Thumbing my nose at Ma Nature

Yes, you read that correctly. Yes, that's the PG version of the original title that came to mind.

Disclaimer: If you're a runner, you'll totally understand what I'm about to say. If not, well, your loss. :-)

There is something completely empowering about running in bad weather.

As most people will attest, there's a general mark of dedication when you actually decide to speak of yourself as a runner. One of my college roommates was famous for yelling at people running on the street, "Hey, whatcha running from?!?!" Or the perennial person who'll comment, "I only run if I'm being chased and running for my life." Every runner's heard them, smiled, nodded, and thought, "Yeah, but...."

Then within the greater world of runners, there are those who are fair-weather runners. It can't be too hot, too cold, too dark, too windy, too anything, or they'll call off their run. Maybe it would be better to call them the Treadmill Types.

On the other end of the runner spectrum are the Die-Hards. These are the people who run 50K trail runs (No, that's not a typo, five-zero kilometers, or 31 miles and 120.6 yards on TRAILS, of all things!) Who can pick up and run a full marathon without much thought or prep time. Who must have knees and ankles of steel. I do not carry citizenship in this strange land.

I fall into a middle category of "Bring-It" runners. Take tonight's run for example.
50-degree weather? Bring it.
Rain? Bring it.
Complete darkness at 6pm? Bring it.
It's crazy, when I'm out running in the weather that sends most people scurrying into their house, where their fastest movement is to get out to the garbage can and back while getting the least soaked, here I am, voluntarily hitting the concrete for 35 minutes.

As a mom, I know I'm not alone in my many reasons for loving running. My friend over at ChambersMade, who I'm going to run a triathlon with in June (was that out loud?), has also discovered herself as a runner. RunningRachel amazes me with her dedication and discipline. For me, running brings silence. Running brings clearness to the brain. Running, by definition, means you don't have children clinging to your person. Running re-connects us to ourselves as women. Just women. Strong, powerful, graceful, vibrant, alive, WOMEN.

So, if Ma Nature wants to throw a little bad weather my way, so what? Not gonna stop my run. Bring it.

My gear, post-run. All wet!

~Me

Not one of 'those' Christmas trees

With the additional space in our schedule this Thanksgiving, we decided to go out the Friday afterwards and purchase our Christmas tree and put up the holiday decorations.

I KNOW!

Amazing, right? This from the family that used to forego putting up Christmas decorations because we were traveling for the holidays, and would be flying out as soon as we were off work. This from the family that scheduled an induction of birth (Thing 1) and calmly came home, put away all the decorations, and went to the hospital.

You mean we're going to have a tree up for an entire month?!?!

Yep.

There are a few hard and fast rules in our house (mostly enforced by me). Rule 1, Thing 2's birthday must be an event independent of Thanksgiving. Rule 2, no Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. Rule 3, all Christmas decorations must be down before Thing 1's birthday. All in all, I think we're on track.

Now, to the title of this posting... I don't have one of 'those' Christmas trees. You know, the perfectly themed, fell out of a Martha magazine, color coordinated, picturesque representation of all that is perfect in Christmas tree-dom. Ours has white lights, a start that was given to us, and a hodge-podge of ornaments, each of which carry a story, and none of which match. My parents had this same type of tree for us growing up, and all of my Christmas memories are crystallized into those ornaments. And when I moved into my own house, my mom gave me my ornaments. Someday, when my sons move into their own homes, they will receive boxes of their own ornaments from across the years.

It's very cool.

So now the process of decorating the tree is a storytelling event of the lives of myself, my husband, and my children. My favorites this year were to explain to Thing 1 three sets of ornaments.

Set 1: Mom & Dad
Set 2: Mom, Dad, & Baby's First Christmas
Set 3: Mom, Dad, Thing 1, Thing 2

Have yourself a merry little Christmas!
~Me