Family Christmas Celebrations

Bill, our sons, daughter-in-law, and I spent last weekend visiting my mom on the farm. After the craziness of the last few weeks, it was nice to kick back and relax with family for a few days. We arrived home around 3 PM on Monday and after unpacking, I hit up the grocery store for the remainder of items I needed for meals and baking for the rest of the week.

On Christmas Eve, we let Pablo open his present from his black lab friend Teddy (whose human is my good friend Tracy).

 

The gift was an adorable customized scarf which made Pablo look quite dapper.

 

After Christmas Eve mass we enjoyed our traditional family time, but missed Jess who was out of town visiting her parents.

 

On Christmas night Pablo posed in our basement with his new Baby Shark. He wasn’t the only one receiving a Nationals related gift, there were lots of World Series Champions items under the tree for everyone!

 

Book Night, an Annual Tradition

Friday night, once Jess was back in town, we celebrated our annual Book Night, a night between Christmas and New Year’s Day when we go to a book store and the kids get to pick out any books they want as part two of their Christmas gifts. Afterwards we always enjoy a family dinner out. This year we went to Arlington to Barnes and Noble followed by dinner at Il Radicchio, a quaint little Italian restaurant where the food was amazing!

 

And Now on to a RunDown of this Past Week’s Workouts…

 

Running

Even though I was exhausted from six hours on the road, I knew I’d be bummed if I didn’t join my friends for our planned Monday evening Christmas lights run at 6:30 PM. It was 43° when I left my house (which for me is shorts and short sleeves weather as long as I have on gloves) so I took advantage of wearing my Christmas shorts. Unfortunately, the temperature dropped to 38° during our run and I got a little chilly. We ran through our friend Angela’s neighborhood and past the winners of her neighborhood’s Christmas lights contest.

The single-family house winner (shown below) even had a Candy Cane Lane that visitors could follow around to the back of the house to see more decorations, and if you were lucky, the homeowners met you outside with a candy cane. Coordinating music was also available for drivers to tune in to as they slowed to enjoy the light show.

First place single-family house…

 

Second place single-family house…

 

First place townhouse…

 

First place townhouse side view…

 

We even paused for a group picture with Santa in his space sleigh!

 

I ran super early on both Thursday and Friday mornings. I averaged a minute per mile faster on Thursday than Friday which just goes to show that my body takes longer to recover from runs these days than it did even just a couple of years ago.

 

Biking

On Saturday morning I hopped on my spin bike (affiliate link), but only had time for six miles.

 

Strength Training

Despite a busy week, I fit my strength training sessions in by moving the days around.

 

Yoga

I only found time for three ten-minute yoga sessions this week.

 

It’s on the Blog

In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…

Coming up this week, on Tuesday I’ll publish my annual Year of Running recap.

 

In addition to the workouts I mentioned above, here’s a complete rundown of my workouts from this past week (completed either outside or in our home gym)…

 

  • Questions:
  • • Did you go on a run, walk, or drive specifically to enjoy looking at Christmas lights? 
  • • What was your favorite thing from this past week? ~ Mine was spending time with all the kids at Book Night 
  • • Did you run in a race this weekend? 

 

And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post may contain affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a small commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but those of the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!