Christmas Shenanigans

Tis the season to be kind, wear funny stuff, and have fun for no reason at all - hey, that sounds like every day life to me! We had our annual Christmas brunch which filled our home with 400 cookies, 200 friends, one dozen casseroles, 3 spiral hams, and a mess we didn't mind cleaning up. (hmm, maybe this should be a song...)

We also joined a few dozen friends as team "Sweaty Santas" for the Snowball Stride 5k. Clearly we have fast friends because our team had the winners for the 9 and under boys and 40-49 women. This was my first real race as a runner, so a few days before the race I started strategizing about how I would win. I got my "lap time" around our yard down to 14 seconds and ate a big pasta dinner the night before, I was set. My mom might have mentioned (a few thousand times) that 3.2 miles is a bit further than a lap around our yard and there would be a need to pace myself, but I was mentally prepared for the challenge...

Then the gun went off and I left my mom and Gater in the dust. About a mile in, my shoes got MUCH heavier and my dad trotted on. The "dust" and my mom caught up to me and I slowed them to a screeching halt. "Let's go Bodie," I was told. I watched my dreams of first place whiz by me, one person after the next. How could my intense "house lap" training fail me? And I ate pasta?!?! Okay mom, remind me what "pacing yourself" is again? She explained as we jogged, then she drug me along, then we walked, then jogged, then she drug me along, then we jogged, then...is that the finish line??? BYE! I have never run so fast in my whole life. I gave no indication of my intentions. I saw that finish line and didn't want to loose to anyone else, I had already lost the race, at least I would beat my family, and I did. They had cared for me and ruined their own race times, all to ensure I would finish. I repaid their kindness with selfish victory and boy, was it sweet.

Fortunately for me, my parents are awesome and didn't kill me. They are, as you know, both responsible for my competitive genes. I may have also mentioned after the race - a few dozen times - that I beat them. So I guess my house lap training DID pay off! We celebrated after the race with hot chocolate and fudge - like all good runners do!

We were also lucky to have a December visit from my Nana and PopPop, do Christmas crafts with our awesome neighbor JoAnn, eat Christmas cookies, visit with our cousins, plan and participate in our church's Christmas party, eat Christmas cookies, attend friends' Christmas parties, and visit the national Christmas tree. Lucky, lucky us.

And this has nothing to do with Christmas, but it's a daily activity, so my mom wanted to capture it - perhaps also as proof for any medical insurance claims that may need to be filed in the future. We have grass around the majority of our yard with one strip of concrete that provides a walkway to the curb. My new game - and I'm teaching Gates the game too - is to throw and catch a football WHILE leaping over the concrete. It's a challenge because I have to look up for the football, which usually means I miscalculate the jump, which often leads to impressive wipeouts. It's awesome.