Christmas is just a few weeks away! It’s kinda odd around my house – it’s calm. The majority of our shopping is done and gifts are wrapped. That must be some kind of record for us. It’s a good feeling for sure. But we’re on the cusp of some major holiday activities happening in the next week, along with the house being full again (yay, college kids will be home!!). It’s starting to get crazy busy, but I’m looking forward to it. Bring on the holiday fun!! I’ve been very cautious of my knee still, so not a lot of running going on lately. Here’s what went down…
I mentioned last week that I was going to watch Wicked with my Mom on Sunday. After it was done I asked her how she liked it. She said it “was different”. “Does that mean you want to see the 2nd movie?” Her reply was “I don’t know.” LOL You may remember that she also told me that she didn’t really care for the Nutcracker and didn’t want to see it again. I do appreciate that she’s honest when asked!
Mon – 3 miles, running. It was a bright crisp winter morning, so I ran along the river to enjoy the views. A beautiful winter wonderland! Saw a few deer. Everything was feeling good. In the evening I decided to give the ski workout another try. It’s the “week 2” workout which involves more single leg exercises. I was a bit apprehensive to work my previously annoyed knee, so I took it easy.
Tues – Rest day! There is nothing better than being awakened at 5am with the feeling that Satan is pulling your calf muscle out, am I right?? Oh lordy!! Yes, I had a dreaded Charley Horse (muscle spasm) and it was awful. After hopping out of bed, grabbing my leg and screaming, I did get back to sleep but yuck, that’s the worst. My legs were feeling that ski workout from yesterday and my knee was not. That’s a win! decorated my workspace. The highlight of the day was the treats that my coworker brought in.
Weds – 4 miles, treadmill. As I headed off to work this morning I noticed that a large box had been delivered last night by my garage door. It was not our order, and it had two name/address stickers on the box which were not in our neighborhood. I did my due diligence and contacted Sam’s Club telling them about the box. Well, it just happened to be something that I had been eyeing up lately – a new holiday yard decoration. A 10 foot tall “shooting star”! Sam’s Club thanked me for my time and said I could keep it. JOY! It must have been the power of positive thinking. WOW, what a sight it is. It makes my snowmen look extra sad though. I restrung those lights just a few years ago and now they are almost all dead. I’ll put new lights in them soon.
Thurs – 4 miles. The trail was mostly clear, but had a dusting of snow with some ice hiding underneath. Not too bad, but I definitely was cautious.
Fri – 40 min elliptical. Rest day from running! I did make it to the gym and then a big workout of grocery shopping, buying everything in the store (or so it seemed!).
I love seeing my Christmas tree first thing in the morning.
Sat – 3 miles treadmill, PT and stretches. I kept it light today still wondering if my knee was improving any! It’s still not bad, not painful, but just doesn’t feel 100%. It doesn’t feel odd when running, but is running helping or hurting the situation??
The rest of the day was chock full of activity. We toured the Manor House (a large house of the former land owners which was turned into a metropark), a “Friends Thanksmus” (dinner with friends!), and ending the day with the ballet – the Nutcracker!
Our friend is the performance (she’s in the burgundy dress in the middle!).
Sun – resting up for the big week ahead and baking. 🙂
Several of my apps sent out 2025 recaps this week. I’m very happy with my Strava stats this year! I hoped for more miles on my bike, but I only ride outside so I think it’s a pretty good total. My running miles were up quite a bit from last year (1,057 in 2024) thanks to being (mostly) injury free in 2025. Lots of skiing miles too. Just wait until the 2026 ski miles come in. My ski calendar is full! And, we just bought our flights to Switzerland for an epic ski trip. Yes, I am looking forward to 2026!!
At the start of this year I set a goal to do some sort of activity every day. Goal achieved! The other interesting stat is the “weekly streak”. I’ve had a weekly entry in Strava for 10 years now. Wow!
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Q: Did you have any interesting stats from your annual wraps ups (Strava, Peloton, Spotify, other)?
Q: What is a holiday treat that you make each year?
We make cut out cookies. I also make a coffee cake with chocolate and cherries for Christmas morning.
Nice score on the shooting stat tree! It looks amazing!! I make Kringle every year (a Norwegian sweet treat) and Christmas Crack, LOL. There are numerous others I filter into the roster as my time allows.
Christmas Crack is my favorite!! I tried making it once and it was a disaster. I’ll have to try it again. It’s sooooo good.
We also had a package that was delivered to my neighbor’s that was mine and I was able to retrieve it. Nice find on the beautiful star. I have found that they don’t want to pay for return shipping so they tel you to keep things often. Looks like a busy week of holiday fun!
It was weird that the package ended up at our house because the address was miles away from ours. I could see if the house number was wrong, but nope, not even close! It was delivered on a cold, very rainy night. Maybe the driver just wanted to be done with his route and dumped it at our house!
How cool that the Sam’s Club mistakenly delivered package contained an item that you had been eying. That star tree is very cool, BTW!
Even though I got a notification from Strava I haven’t looked at my year-end stats. I’ll definitely do that before the end of the year.
I almost always make sugar cookies with almond glaze for Christmas. They’re so yummy!
It was a fun surprise to get that special delivery! The tree is a bit obnoxious because it’s so bright, but I love it!
That’s truly a beautiful winter wonderland, even to someone who doesn’t like winter and snow! That Christmas decor is so pretty – but I don’t get it! It was supposed to be delivered to someone else but they let you keep it?
I’m getting that yearly recap from Strava but I’m usually not overly excited about it. Perhaps I should be this year so I looked at it and saw I’ve been walking 535 km, not bad!
Something I make for Christmas every year is Swedish style ginger cookies. They are a must during December and that’s it!
That’s correct – the store didn’t want to go through the hassle of sending a driver to pick up the package, and redeliver it (and didn’t expect me to deliver it), so I got to keep it! I think it was on sale for $130, so yay for me! My husband said too bad it wasn’t a big screen TV! haha (they’d probably come pick it up if it was…) I would have delivered the box if it was in the neighborhood. I often have to do that with the mail. Since the box had a few address stickers on it I wasn’t even sure where it was supposed to go!
Yum, those ginger cookies sound good!
What a great week! And I love that you got a bonus decoration for your yard! That’s a major score!
We always make butter spritz cookies and russian tea cakes. The rest is up in the air.
I love the Nutcracker, but the boys never want to go see it. Oh, well.
I have to finish shopping and wrapping. We bought a lot before the holidays so I am wrapping the empty boxes lol. Oh, the joys of being a grown up!
There was a guy sitting in front of me at the performance who seemed to be challenged in sitting still and focusing on the ballet. I had to move because he kept blocking my view! Clearly he was not the one who had the idea to go see it 🤣
How fun to get that ‘gift’ of the yard decoration! We don’t put lawn decorations out, simply because it would be me putting them out, lol! We’re going to the Morton Arboretum after Christmas for their light show–it’s nice to enjoy other people’s efforts, lol
No stats yet for me, but there won’t be much to brag about this year. Since I’m not doing long distance races anymore, my numbers have fallen below 1000 miles. I’m actually not bothered by this, which is a good thing.
I hope your knee calms down!
I am also in charge of the outdoor lights, and most of the indoor stuff. Our challenge is that Alan wanted to cut all of the bushes back, and now we have limited places to put the lights on!! Just tiny landscaping. So the shooting star worked out pretty good with that issue. Our neighbor across the street goes all out with outdoor decorations. This year we are upping our game. LOL