Secret Santa + more! edition

Secret Santa

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Thanks, Andrew!
This year I participated once again in Jill's blogger Secret Santa gift exchange. It's always fun to see what kind of cool gifts everyone comes up with, and my Secret Santa did not disappoint.  The always entertaining and frequently hilarious Andrew from Runing Man Wannabe sent me a running book.  If you've read my blog for long, you know that I a) love to read and b) need all the help I can get with my running.  I can't wait to dig into it, right as soon as I finish my Christmas baking and cleaning the house.

More!

1.  I started my Christmas baking yesterday, when at a late breakfast I realized I hadn't made anything for Christmas at my father-in-law's house...which was at 1:00.  With 1.5 hours until we had to leave, I whipped up my Grandma's chocolate chip cookie recipe (no, it's not Phoebe's grandma's recipe), and we still made it on time to the party.


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They may not look exciting, but they're delicious.
1b.  I'm making oatmeal cranberry white chocolate chip cookies right now, and I was fine until I had the first bite of dough.  Oh, my gosh...you just can't go wrong with real butter, white chocolate, brown and white sugar, and cranberries.  Totally worth the salmonella risk.  We may not have that many cookies to share. 


1c. I don't even feel that bad about starting so late.  I just ordered my gift from my husband last night (a Garmin watch! Finally!).  We're totally off our Christmas game this year.  Well, he is.  My Christmas game looks a lot like this little girl:

Photo credit: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwm5GxbEzT_VHAujIlkFufWUHpAZ4-xxHST8AMGqnDjBfYyiDYEF398xLs3n4cWESu94VxiTkL-s3lphIkQo8LZ0Gxfu5H82Mw0Ze__VIU2FZPG_ILeGghHEpD8jwCgA77RVZud36MR5j0/s1600/Maddie+chasing+a+bus.jpg
I mean, when the radio is full of commercials about "last minute Christmas gifts" and you haven't even started?  Yikes.  It's all good, though.  I finished shopping about an hour ago. 

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Ouch!
2.  N. twisted his ankle during the first 5 minutes of practice on Monday night (coincidentally, the first night I did any in-store Christmas shopping...clearly, Christmas shopping is hazardous business).  I took this picture the first night, by the next night despite ice and elevation and ibuprofen it and his foot looked so much worse.  A dr's visit and some x-rays established that it's not fractured, thank goodness.  We're lucky to have a great trainer at the high school who's working with him, so hopefully his time off will be limited.

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Amy, Dawn, Wade, Gary
3.  Robin had set up a group ride for the weekend.  I'd thought it was Friday, and when I realized it was actually Saturday, I asked around on Facebook to see if anyone wanted to run.  I ended up with a group of five, plus me, spanning friendships starting from grade school until just a couple weeks ago.  We had a fantastic run, and I managed to cover a good portion of the inner trails without losing my way.

I got to go with my friends Angie and Dawn on their first trail run, and I'm pretty sure the world has two new trail runners now.  Also, Wade (AKA my nemesis) took me to task for neglecting to note that I keep losing to someone much "older and fatter" than me.  Consider yourselves told. :)


4.  Unfortunately, I ended up skipping Robin's ride this morning.  Combination of staying up too late wrapping presents the last couple of days and a persistant backache (probably from the same thing).  I had just told Jeff that if my brother Jim wasn't going (he's in town for the holiday), I'd get back into bed.  And then Jim called.  As I stood there in the bathroom all tired and sore, I thought back to the last time I tried a mountain bike ride super tired...but then it would probably be fine once I got out there.  I wish I had a sign to show me if I should go or not, I thought, and then my stomach started bothering me.  I figured that was my sign, sent Robin a text, and climbed back into bed.

Photo credit: http://www.solidprinciples.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Jesus-Mary-Joseph-manger-scene.jpg
Merry Christmas to each and every one of you!  I'm glad to know you all...thanks for coming here and sharing in my life.  May the holidays bring you peace, love, fun, and great joy.

Comments

  1. Very cool gift from Andrew! I had a lot of fun doing the secret Santa thing too.

    The cookies look delicious and congrats on the Garmin! Good call on skipping the ride being tired and sore.

    Before I read the text under the ankle picture I thought wow, Kate really slacked off on the shaving for the winter :-).

    Merry Christmas to you and your family Kate! I've really enjoyed following your blog. If I ever turn in to a morning person, I'll have to join some of your group rides and runs.

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  2. Love the book, how thoughtful Andrew is!

    I inhaled all the xmas cookies almost in one sitting...so I'm on round 2. I hope they don't have the same fate. Yours look scrumptious!

    Hope your son's ankle is doing better now, that had to be so miserable. Poor thing.

    A very very Merry Christmas, Kate! :)

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  3. KAAAAATTTEEEEE!!!!!!
    my virtual friend that I would love to meet!
    MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  4. Way cool gift! I was kind of missing my Christmas mojo this year too. A large part of my shopping has been done in the last couple of weeks (including today). I did finally bake some cookies because my daughter was bugging me to. My son ate most of them before they did too much damage to my diet. I briefly was confused with the hairy toes too, but never really thought they were yours. Merry Christmas to you as well! Looking forward to hooking up for some kind of craziness in the new year.

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  5. Glad to see you have finally made full disclosure.

    Let's take your friends to the GORC trails next time. A bit easier for beginners.

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  6. Merry Christmas, Kate. Can't wait to read on here about your climbing experiences. Is there anything you won't try?

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  7. Merry Christmas (late), Kate! That's a great Secret Santa gift. That whole thing was so much fun.

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  8. Merry Christmas late from me too! Those cookies look fab!

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  9. LOL I find that *most* cookie doughs seem to worth the salmonella risk! Hope you had a great Christmas!

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