It’s December 17th. You're in a X-Mas rut. You stuffed yourself with turkey three weeks ago and have been counting down the days all year until Christmas. The spirit of the holidays is buzzing through the air, but you just can’t feel it in your bones. You’re feeling more like the Grinch than a jolly Christmas elf. Time is running out. Well, that's me in a nutshell. Try as I might, I'm finding it difficult to focus on the good things about Christmas. Sure, I have plenty to be grateful and appreciative for, all of which I truly am... but I can't help but get frustrated and angry at all of the drivers on the road, all of the lines in the stores... fighting over parking spots and obsessing over all of the germs I'm forced to come in to contact with. So... I have a devised a plan of action to get me (sucessfully) through the holiday season without biting my loved ones' heads off:

Step 1: "Christmasfy" myself. :)

Step 2: Get a tree and pine candle. Check... and check. Because the Hubs and I opted for another "temporary" Charlie Brown fake Christmas tree this year (in the hopes that it will be our last one because we will hopefully be in our first house by this time next year), it just doesn't "feel" like Christmas without the pine scent. Enter: pine candle. Can I just tell you how much I love Yankee Candle and all of the awesome Christmasy scents it has to offer? Ahh... if only we were snuggled up in a snowy cabin in Vermont in front of a crackling fire... Anyway, I digress.

Step 3: Crank up the Christmas music. All the time.

Step 4: Shop. At the mall. Strip malls don't really cut it, as I found out the other night whilst running around like a mad woman until 9pm. Too many in-and-out-of-the-car, finding parking spots, etc. to contend with. It just doesn't make for a happy ending.



Step 5: Break out the Chrismas DVDs. Truthfully, I have no idea when I'm going to find the time for this, but I'm putting it in my 5-step plan anyway. Ideally, I would love to sit down & watch all of the classics. But alas, between hosting family get-togethers, long weekend runs, daily workouts, work, shopping, and a trip to NYC all planned in the 12 days, I've got my work cut out for me. And speaking of weekend long runs, my first group long run with my DFMC teammates is this upcoming Saturday morning in Lexington... I'm nervous and excited at the same time - hoping I can find someone that also runs at my snail pace; we'll see. Anyway, off to wrap some gifts... Merry Christmas, everyone out there (or at least to the one or two of you that read this!).