Christmas Challenge Check-In (I Can Explain…)
Ah. Well, let’s just see how my Christmas Challenge is going. I got the idea from Kae to plan a specific holiday activity for each of the remaining twelve days of Christmas. Let’s just say things didn’t quite go as planned. When I left off it was Friday, and I called that a “Christmas Work Day.” It wasn’t exactly a fun activity, but there were several things I wanted to get done before my son came home; most importantly, finishing the outdoor lights. I had the lights up around the top of the house and in the palm trees, but hadn’t done the bushes yet. The PROBLEM was, Friday was extremely rainy and windy. So windy, in fact, that my lights in the palm trees blew down and were lying on the grass. Not only did I not finish the lights, but the decoration I already had up were UN-DECORATING THEMSELVES. Arg. Saturday. The planned activity today was a family dinner at the table with decorations and twinkle lights. Strike two! My husband got a last-minute gig (this is the life of a musician) so he wasn’t home for dinner. Not only that, but the original plan was for him to pick up my son from the airport while I made dinner. Now I had to pick up my son- which I was happy to do- but timing-wise it just wasn’t conducive to a family dinner (even if we wanted to do it without my husband.) The kids and I ended up eating re-heated curry in the living room that night. Sunday- make cookies. Okay, nothing could go wrong THIS time, right??? I specifically wanted to make these Festive and Easy Rum Balls to include in the gift for my daughter’s flute teacher. No judgments here, but let’s just say I really felt like she and her husband would enjoy a boozy cookie. I made them! The problem was, I got a text from the flute teacher saying she was sick and couldn’t make the lesson on Monday. Oh, great! This means we won’t see her till January. The kids were intrigued and excited to try the rum balls, so I let them… and they hated them. My daughter said they taste like nail polish remover, and my son said they taste like a delicious cookie that someone ruined by pouring alcohol all over. Now I will say… the recipe says the alcohol mellows after 24 hours, and the kids tried them the day I made them. But for now I have a batch of rum balls in the freezer and I’m not sure what I’ll do with them. LUCKILY I also made peanut butter balls! I used this recipe and everyone likes those, phew. By Sunday the wind had died down and I was able to get the lights back up into the palm trees- but no lights in the bushes still. At this point I’m wondering if that’s going to happen this year. Monday’s activity was starting the Christmas puzzle- and I did it! The problem is, I was the only one who worked on it. I’m hoping if I leave it out others will join in, but so far the only thing that’s happened is my husband complained that it hurts his back to have the puzzle on the coffee table like that. We’ll see how this goes… And here we are on Tuesday. The activity for today is more cookie baking (didn’t I just do that??) Well, it would be a great day to make my annual Christmas biscotti. My daughter has a guitar lesson tomorrow, and I can add biscotti to her teacher’s present (along with the rum balls he’ll obviously be getting.) Biscotti is kind of a pain to make, but it’s worth it. These have orange zest and chocolate chips… yum. Also on tap for today is making the Christmas playlist for my long run tomorrow! I’m getting exited about that. I’m hoping these Christmas Challenges become more successful as the days go on- I would hate to look back on this as the “12 Days of Christmas Debacles.” Next check-in coming soon! How is your week going? Header photo by Felicia Buitenwerf on Unsplash
Weekly Rundown- There Were Glitches
Oh, hello! It’s time for another Weekly Rundown- thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting. This week did not go smoothly; I guess I was due for some bumps in the road. Let’s just see how it played out. Monday It all started with an innocent 4 mile run. About halfway in I started to feel a pain in my RIGHT foot. This is not to be confused with my “difficult foot,” the left one. This is so boring, but a couple years ago I had a dozen shockwave treatments on the left foot and ended up getting orthotics because of something my podiatrist called “lateral column syndrome.” On this run I felt the exact same thing in my right foot, and needless to say, I wasn’t happy about it. For the rest of the day, I could feel a mild discomfort in that foot. I’m worried. Tuesday Gym day. I skipped the sled because I didn’t want to risk aggravating my foot. I did squats and then focused more on upper body- bench press, rows, reverse flys, and abs. Sigh. Wednesday Ah, tough decision. It was supposed to be a 10 mile run, but I wanted to rest my foot. So I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the bike and then an hour on the stair climber. Wow, I really hated this. I kept thinking about my trail and the big grassy field I like to run in… and instead I was stuck inside the gym. I got through it with the help of a couple podcasts. Of course, Sally McRae would say I should have done it without any screens or headphones- no distractions at all, to build my mental strength. Um… no, thanks. I’ll build mental strength some other way. Thursday Okay, time to test out the foot. I walked for a mile and then ran for 3… it seemed okay. I’m still worried about it though. Friday UGH. I had an absolutely terrible night of sleep. I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time, and then when I finally did fall asleep, my cat somehow got into the bedroom and started meowing loudly. (MUFFIN. I wrote a whole post about you during NaBloPoMo and this is how you repay me???) I seriously probably got about three hours of sleep, and I felt like absolute crap in the morning. I had no choice but to get up at 5:30 anyway, because I had to get my daughter up and ready for school. Since I was up I figured I might as well do a workout, so I did strength at home. Runners touch, squats- getting very low with a 35 pound dumbbell- Bulgarian split squats and dead bugs. I felt a little better afterwards, but I was still dragging all day. Saturday Okay, another run- 5 miles and the foot felt fine. Phew. But it was a windy and rainy run, so no photos. At night, my son came home!!! Go figure- on an extremely windy and rainy day, his flight landed precisely on time. When does that ever happen??? Anyway… let the celebrating begin! Sunday Off. Sleeping in, and I really need it. It was an exhausting week of poor sleep and worrying about my foot. But things are looking up, and after eight hours of sleep I’ll get up and make gingerbread waffles. Other than baking cookies, it’ll be a low-key day of rest. Next week is a big week, with a long run planned for Wednesday. I hate the fact that I even have to think about my foot- let’s go back to the good old days when all I had to worry about was the weather, and how to keep my Tailwind cold! Well… fingers crossed. How was your week? Did you have any unexpected glitches? Are you ready for Christmas? – I’m getting there. By December 24th I WILL be ready!
My 12 Days of Christmas Challenge
Today I am blatantly copying Kae and her 12 Days of Christmas Challenge. Starting on Wednesday the 13th, she has a challenge for each of the remaining 12 days until Christmas- read a Christmas book, go for a walk to look at lights, eat a family dinner at the table, etc. I love the idea of assigning an activity to make each day distinctive. The days in December always seem to fly by. This seems like a way to slow it down and feel like each day is important (not just a stepping stone to December 25th.) Here’s my own 12 Days of Christmas list: Wednesday 12/13- I didn’t read about Kae’s challenge until Thursday, but luckily Wednesday WAS a special day anyway- it was my “elfing” day! I opened and organized all the Amazon packages that had been shoved in my closet, and wrapped presents. I really enjoyed it! And I got a lot done. Thursday 12/14- Honestly, this day and Friday were hard to fit into the challenge. There are just so many things I have to get done, and I’m trying to reframe it. We can call this “elfing day junior”- when I got home from work I discovered four more gifts had arrived, so I had a mini-wrapping session (my daughter was at school late for a rehearsal.) I also finished up my Amazon orders. In the last post I asked for stocking stuffer ideas for my son, and I was amused to notice that almost EVERYONE mentioned socks. Okay you guys, socks have been ordered! Friday 12/15- Decorating my son’s room. Finishing the outdoor lights. Once again, these are more “tasks” than fun challenges, but I need one more “Christmas work day” and this is it! Saturday 12/16- Very special day- my son comes home!!! Family dinner at the table with festive decorations and twinkle lights. Sunday 12/17- Cookie baking! I’m thinking of making these rum balls from Sally’s Baking Addiction. These will be part of the gifts to my daughter’s flute and guitar teachers, and I think they’ll appreciate an “adult” cookie. I’ll also make another kind of cookie- not sure what yet, but something my kids will like. Monday 12/18- Starting the family puzzle! Ha ha, we’ll see how this goes. I decided we’re all going to do a puzzle this Christmas, so I ordered this one: My daughter has announced that it’s the “dumbest thing ever” but my son is humoring me so far. I’m looking forward to it! Tuesday 12/19- More cookie baking! I’ll make the dough for gingerbread men and sugar cookies, which we decorate on Christmas Eve. Plus one more cookie- probably biscotti- to add to gifts. Wednesday 12/20- Long run!!! I’m going to make a Christmas playlist for this run. Just for part of it- this is a planned 24 mile run and even I can’t listen to Christmas music for THAT long. Thursday 12/21- Present wrapping and Christmas movies with the kids. They’ll wrap the gifts they got for each other, and the gifts they’re giving us. Also any miscellaneous presents will be wrapped, like my Secret Santa present for work. Friday 12/22- My son will be going out with friends this night, so I’m going to try to watch a Christmas movie I’ve never seen before. Elf? (I know- I’m the only one in the world who hasn’t seen this.) White Christmas? Love Actually? If I can get my husband or daughter interested, it will definitely have a bearing on my choice. Saturday 12/23- Festivus! I’ll work in the morning and then we’ll do our usual Festivus activities, which include going out for bagels, last minute shopping and present wrapping, and watching Polar Express. We’ll do a little airing of the grievances, but otherwise our Festivus doesn’t follow the Costanza’s traditions (the bagel lunch is a nod to Kramer’s job at H&H in that episode, ha ha.) Sunday 12/24- Every year on Christmas Eve we host a cookie decorating party and dinner for my friend and her two daughters. We met when our kids were in preschool together, and we’ve been spending Christmas Even together for eleven years now. There we go! Did anyone else copy Kae? What activities are you doing in the next ten days? Header photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Serious Christmas Vibes
Well, today was an exciting day! I arrived home from work to find a stack of Amazon packages outside the front door. I knew they weren’t for me- they were all presents I had ordered for the kids- but there’s still something exciting about seeing a pile of packages. I was also very happy they arrived on this particular day (more on that in a bit,) After I carried the packages in, I went to check the mailbox and found FOUR holiday cards and a mysterious package… which turned out to be a book from Kyria. At first I wondered if Kyria was my Secret Santa, but no… she asked for my address last week, which she would already have if she were my Secret Santa. No, Kyria sent me Running Your First Ultra as a gift!!! I absolutely can’t wait to read it. Thank you, Kyria! A little later I heard a truck pull up, and ANOTHER package was delivered. Now what??? OOOH!!! It was my Secret Santa gift! And guess what… my Secret SANta turned out to be SAN herself! She sent me a mug, vegan cookies, and peppermint soap. OH YES. I love everything, and the mug is being saved until January. I always get so sad when I have to put away the holiday mugs, so San’s mug will ease the pain of that day. THANK YOU SO MUCH, SAN! Phew, that was a lot of excitement. And, tomorrow is my “elfing” day. I’ve done this for a long time but just recently heard it called that. I take a day when no one else is home to wrap the “Santa” presents. Just to clarify- my kids do NOT believe in Santa anymore (in case you were getting seriously worried about my family.) But they still enjoy some Christmas magic, so the Santa presents are hidden away and appear under the tree on Christmas morning. I use special, “secret” wrapping paper and try to make them as pretty as possible. On my elfing day I’ll get my favorite tea from Starbucks in a festive holiday cup, and spread all the presents, wrapping paper and ribbons on the living room floor, so I can wrap leisurely. I’ll either listen to Christmas music or watch something Christmas-y while I’m doing it. This is so much more fun than wrapping presents while crouched furtively in the garage (I’ve done that too.) And this is why I was so happy the presents arrived today. There will still be a few more trickling in, but the more I can get wrapped tomorrow, the less I’ll have to do later. Things are moving right along! Most of the presents have arrived, most of the outdoor decorations are up, and most of my Christmas cards have been sent. I do have one area where I’m lacking, and I’m hoping to get some advice. I realized I have NO stocking stuffers for my son. My daughter is easy- a scented bodywash, some stickers, a bracelet, some candy… done. Does anyone have any ideas for a 21-year-old male who doesn’t like candy, is very picky about his soaps and personal care items, and obviously is too old for toys? HELP!!! Do you like wrapping presents? Do you do it all at once on a special day, or spread it out? Do you like Secret Santa exchanges? – I love them! I did San’s and we’re also doing one at work.