I had to split this into two posts, since the decorations portion ended up hogging an entire post. Here are the rest of our Christmas traditions!

Christmas Cards

Although it nearly gives me carpal tunnel, I love writing Christmas cards. It’s fun to sit down and write a special note in each one and then decorate the envelopes with stickers. 🙂

In return, it’s also fun receiving Christmas cards. I like to keep all of ours in a basket in the living room.

Cookies

My ‘signature’ Christmas cookie is gingerbread men. I started making them a few years ago. I’ve since tweaked my recipe a few times, and have it exactly how I want it (for now). The gingerbread men are pretty labor intensive, because I decorate each individual one. But there’s nothing like a cookie that smiles back at you.

This year I also made pumpkin snickerdoodle white chocolate chip cookies. I came across the recipe on HRG‘s blog, and gave them a try at Thanksgiving. Everyone raved about them, and I ended up making several batches just over the holiday weekend. I think they work well as Christmas cookies, too.

We take cookies with us when we travel to see family, and I also mail cookies to family members who we’re also mailing gifts to.

Music/Movies

I am a huge fan of Christmas movies. I have a large collection, and at least five or six that would qualify as favorites. It would be impossible for me to pick just one! During the holidays, I try and make sure I sit down to watch each one if I have time. I also like having them on in the background as I wrap gifts, bake cookies, and decorate.

I also love Christmas music, but I have to be careful not to OD on it. For me, it’s easy to cross the line into “too much” territory and I will get tired of it. This year I bought a Duck Dynasty Christmas CD thinking it would be funny, but it’s actually a great album!

Traveling

Since my side of the family and Barry’s live at opposite ends of the state, we also spend a lot of time traveling during the holidays. It takes a lot of planning in advance to coordinate schedules with everyone, but I make sure we’ll see everyone during the holidays. This year Barry has to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so I’ll be home with the dogs. We’re actually in Bristol visiting Barry’s family this weekend and we’ll be heading to the other end of the state next weekend to see mine.

Gift Wrapping

This one goes at the very end, because the gifts aren’t the real reason for the season. But they are a big part of it. I love putting lots of thought into gifts and then wrapping them as best I can.

 

I really want each one to look great, because that makes receiving the gift even better. Unfortunately, I am a bit limited because of my poor arts and crafts skills, but I do my best. I’ve gotten a lot better at tying bows this year!

Do you have a ‘signature’ cookie or other item you make for the holidays?
What’s your favorite Christmas/holiday movie?
Do you travel a lot during the holidays?

 

Only one week left until Christmas. Commence freak out! If you celebrate Christmas, I hope that you have been able to get the ‘tedious’ things out of the way so you can sit back and enjoy time with friends and family.

There are lots of traditions that go along with the holidays this time of year. For me, none of them are allowed to start until after December 6, which is my dad’s birthday. But once December 7 rolls around it’s time to kick it into high gear, like the flip of a light switch. Get ready for picture overload!

Decorations

I was a bit worried about how I would get all of my decorating done this year, since I am out of town every single weekend in December until New Years. But with being sick all last week and not running at all, I was able to get most of my decorating done!

My favorite thing about decorating the house is taking out each item and remembering all of the memories associated with it. Even Larry the Quilt Lamb, who was an awesome surprise gift last year from my in-laws, is getting festive.

Marvin the Moose made an appearance again this year!

He hangs outside with the rest of our Christmas lights. We have two Rhododendron bushes in front of our house, and I think they look kind of tropical with the Christmas lights on them.

And of course we have our advent calendar. I love this one, because we get to reuse it each year, and you get to hang an ornament on the tree each night.

New additions this year included a Christmas runner for our dining room table, a light up tree (in the center of the table) and a train! I’m sure our guests won’t mind eating at the table as the train goes around 🙂

Of course the centerpiece of the decorations is the Christmas tree. Our tree is a little 4 foot tall pre-lit artificial tree. It’s loaded down with ornaments! I think nearly every branch is full 🙂 Maybe it’s time for a bigger tree?

Going along with the tree is our mantelpiece decorations, including our stockings (hung by the fire with care, yada yada).

And that about does it! Since this is already entirely too long, I am going to split the rest of the Christmas traditions into a second post. Tomorrow I’ll share about Christmas cards, cookies, and all those wonderful Christmas movies.

Do you put up a lot of holiday decorations? If so, what’s your favorite one? I love the tree with all of its ornaments, and I really like my new train.

Have you ever heard of the sport of cup stacking? Oh yes, it’s a sport. In fact, is has grown into a worldwide sport, and is now known as Sport Stacking with it’s own World Sport Stacking Association.

I discovered cupstacking when I was in sixth or seventh grade, when it wasn’t a widespread, well-known activity. In fact, I don’t think it stretched beyond the borders of the U.S. at the time.

Before I go any further, I should probably explain to you what cup stacking is. It’s a sport that involves stacking specialized cups in a specific series of formations in as little time as possible. There are three different sequences used in competition (yes, there are competitions!). There’s the 3-3-3 stack, the 3-6-3 stack, and the cycle. The cycle stack is a series of 3 stacking patterns that go from a 3-6-3, to a 6-6, to a 10 stack. Still not getting it? Here’s an example of the cycle stack:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=4w-EHLYBsoY

Sorry about the video quality, but it was a miracle I managed to make a video and post it at all. By the way, that’s the first time I’ve ever appeared in a video on my blog 🙂

I never actually competed in any competitions, but my little sister and I would often compete against each other. Even back when I first learned about the sport, when it was relatively new, there was still a World Championship for cup stacking and there was a world record holder. The record holder at that time was Emily Fox. Interestingly enough, her father got her started with cup stacking when he introduced it to her PE class in elementary school. Four years later, at the age of 16, she set the first world record in cup stacking with a time of 7.43 seconds. Interestingly enough, she also knew how to ride a 6 foot unicycle like me!

Shortly after I began stacking, I entered a writing competition online, put on by Speed Stacks (the cup manufacturer). I ended up winning a stack mat autographed by Emily Fox and a free set of cups. I still have both, and the stack mat is the one I’m using in my video. It has touch pads that you use to start and stop the built-in timer.

Today, sport stacking has become a pretty big deal. The World Championships is now a huge event that draws kids from over 18 countries, and sport stacking is now included in the AAU Junior Olympics. The competitions include kids stacking individually, as well as on relay teams and as doubles (where one person is the right hand and the other is the left hand). These kids mean business and they’re really fast! In case you’re interested, HERE is a video of the current record holder. I have no idea how that kid’s hands move so fast!

Cup stacking is great for kids. It teaches them concentration and helps improve hand-eye coordination. It’s a great activity to introduce to elementary school-aged kids in PE class, and that has been done in many schools across the country. It’s definitely a lot of fun, whether you’re a kid or an adult!

Have you ever heard of cup stacking?
What unusual sports/activities have you done?

Last week was a pretty rough week. I mentioned last Monday that I had a bad sore throat. By Monday night I had gone way downhill and had a bad, full blown sinus infection that was also in my chest. It was worse than the one I had in September/October, but luckily I got myself to the doctor Tuesday afternoon instead of waiting three weeks like last time 🙂 I got some antibiotics, which are in the process of working their magic now. Due to the chest congestion (and due to being worn out walking up the steps) I didn’t run all week or weekend. I’m still not feeling back to 100%, yet, but I was feeling well enough to stick to my weekend plans.

Saturday morning started out with a trip to the vet for Scout, just for routine vaccines. She used to love going to the vet, but ever since we had her ‘fixed’ I think she always thinks we are going to leave her there when we go.

Trips to the vet always exhaust her, so she pretty much slept the whole way home and the rest of the weekend. Hank chose to ‘sympathy sleep’ with her all weekend. Bums.

On Saturday afternoon, I left the sleeping dogs and headed up to Charlottesville for my Dad’s girlfriend’s brother’s Christmas Party. Barry had to work, which was a bummer, so I flew solo this weekend. But the party was a lot of fun. I met a lot of new people and got to check out an amazing house. I also found the coolest/funniest Christmas decoration I have ever seen, which was hand sewn in the 60’s.

I spent the night in Charlottesville Saturday night and after a delicious brunch on Sunday morning, I was back on the road home. Once I got home, I spent the afternoon writing my Christmas cards and doing a bit more gift wrapping. Nearly done!

Now I just have to make a gazillion batches of cookies this week!

P.S. Be sure to come back on Wednesday! I’ve got something to share with you that I’ve been working on for awhile (no – it’s not a baby announcement). I bet a lot of you have never heard of it before! 🙂 Plus I will be appearing in a video for the first time on my blog. Yikes!

What did you do this weekend?
Do you send Christmas/holiday greeting cards? They’re a lot of work, but I love sending them!

Its seems like every time you accomplish a big goal or finish a goal race, you find yourself thinking “what next?.” After I finished my first full marathon last year, I decided to start running on trails. Last spring I ran three trail races. And then I started training for my second full marathon. Trail running mostly got pushed to the back burner, to lessen my risk of turning an ankle/getting injured during training. But after finishing my second full marathon, I felt the trail itch again (which sounds more like some kind of disease than a yearning to run through the trees and up mountains).

So this time I decided to sign up for the entire Roanoke Non Ultra Trail Series, which is put on by Mountain Junkies LLC. Last year I ran two of their races, and I had a great time. I loved the atmosphere, they did a great job with logistics, and I got to see some really great trails I never knew were there.

The series has six races total, and I will be participating in five of them. The only one I opted out of was the Mill Mountain Mayhem 10K, because it is the weekend before the Blue Ridge Half Marathon. My first race will be the Frozen Toe 10K on January 10th.

The race is run on a favorite loop of the owners of Mountain Junkies, and in years past the weather has caused the trail to be frozen, completely ice-covered, or even snow covered. Should be interesting! It may end up being like my first trail race last year. The second race is the Explore Your Limits 5K & 10K.

I will be running the 10K for this race. The race is held at Explore Park in Roanoke, which I’ve never been to before. I look forward to exploring the singletrack mountain biking trails, which have been described as “challenging,” on foot. After that comes the Montvale 5 and 10 Miler.

For this one, I chose to do the 10 miler. I’ve never run a 10 mile trail race before. This race is held in Bedford county, and it sounds like the park is another hidden gem you never knew was there. Since I’m skipping the Mill Mountain Mayhem 10K, my next race in the series will be the Trail Nut 10K & Half Marathon.

Last year, the Trail Nut was my first Mountain Junkies RNUTS race. I ran the 10K and had a great time. I was amazed at the set of trails that were there for exploring, right there behind the Bedford County Nursing Home. This year I decided to give the half marathon a try.

Finally, I’ll wrap up the series with the anchor event to the RNUTS series: Conquer the Cove Trail 25K & Marathon. I have chosen to run the 25K again this year. The race was a real challenge for me last year, but I loved running through Carvins Cove Natural Reserve, the second largest municipal park in the nation.

I’ve never done a series of races before, and I’m looking forward to the experience. It will be neat to see familiar faces at each of the races. At the end of the year, they hold a social get together and awards ceremony (the series also has a points system based on overall and age group placement at each race, like a grand prix). I’m hoping to make new friends and officially join the trail running community.

Have you ever participated in a race series before?