A Happy Christmas to All... and to All a Good Night!

I am exhausted! The run felt fantastic today, 6.5 miles was exactly what I would hope for knowing it will be lots of sitting in the car tomorrow! Not to mention , all the running around I did. I had to :
-wrap our presents for Jeff's family
-wrap my presents for Jeff
-wrap our presents for my family for christmas day
-fold and pack laundry for christmas day
-search for Jeff's cell phone (we misplaced it while at Andrea's last night )
-bake a pumpkin carrot bread that I needed to do ( I didn't want to waste the last of the pumpkin and organic carrots I had just got since we will be gone till sunday night)
-pack for tonight
-yes, go grab one last minute gift of course.

My lunch was quick leftover chicken sausage and pasta- with TONS OF VEGGIES!

All the wine and lack of sleep makes me crave health food like vegetables and fruit. Who am I kidding, I always crave vegetables and fruit, but I think as I recall from posts, I didn't really eat any vegetables yesterday! That is a "wow" moment, I almost always get in at least the " 5 daily servings" because I just like veggies and fruit so much! I found buying frozen fresh veggies and fruit are a big help in getting in servings- they are a very inexpensive option that last for such a long time if necessary ( like holiday travels!!!). I got hooked in college because the fresh stuff I buy would go bad due to a crazy schedule and I had no $$$!

When we arrived for dinner at Momma Mo's, we greeted a plate of christmas cookies immediately!
I had a peanut brittle (too fast for an individual photo) it was so delicious! And then split a chocolate snowflake

with Jeff. We played cards, opened sibling gifts (santa gifts tomorrow!) and had eggnog, and wine...

then started on dinner!

Dinner at Jeff's parents was delicious! Turducken with sweet potatos, amazing brocolli rice casserole, and mixed green salad with gorgonzola, walnut and cranberries.

It was phenomenal!I was so satisfied with dinner that I could only manage 1 cookie for dessert ( gasp! only 1).Here is PJ with my one dessert: there is a reese's peanut butter cup inside!

Momma Mo (Jeff's mom) read us The Night Before Christmas as she does every year. It just made me feel so lucky to know that in a few (or several!) years, I will get to have my first baby listening to that story!

Santa is at our tree right now laying out presents, and my camera usb cable to upload pics is in there with him. I did take photos of everything so I will try to get them up tomorrow. Jeff's family has suprised me with how supportive of my blogging they have been! His stepdad Preston checks in all the time and everyone (Jeff the most) bugs me with " Why didn't you take a picture already? or You should take a picture of this!" It is really cute and fantastic to have people love you for who you are and what you enjoy! Love you all!

I also chatted with my sister- Hi Christal!!! I love you! and she told me she checks in at least twice a day! She also said a friend of hers wanted the link and enjoys reading- so hello sister's friend!

I miss my brothers- I love you Matt and Gabe! Even though I will see my mom and dad tomorrow, I still wish I could be back in our tiny old house opening up Mall Madness with each and everyone of my siblings under the same tree. Something to dream about anyway... speaking of dreams- I am in serious need of sleep.
Hope santa brings you lots of joy in many ways, or whatever holiday you may celebrate- may it be filled with joy! Merry christmas to all and to all a good night!

French Toast Breakfast Tree on Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve! Hooray!
French Toast Breakfast Tree:

Peanut Butter Trunk, Pumpkin Egg White French Toast Tree... (pumpkin, egg whites, splash of milk, splash vanilla extract, dash of cinnamon)
decorated with blueberry bells, cherry balls, flaxseeds and pineapple topper.


Body:
Short Run with Jack (20 minutes around the neighborhood hills). It was such a warm christmas eve! I think the high was 68*. It is so weird to have grown up in freezing weather and snow, literally snow from October-April ....and to now have winter temps of 68* and higher!. I had lunch plans that didn't work out, so when that happened, I realized I could get the "real" cardio I had been hoping for at the Gym. I was hoping to get in that red face, dripping sweat cardio because I know I will be resting christmas day, driving and above all, would rather enjoy opening presents and family time than be out on an hour long run! So, my cardio turned into an amazing 4.5 mile run/sprint... I ran for two minutes straight at 9.0 (a 6:40 min. mile) and the rest at 8.0 ( about a 7 minute mile). Phew.. so my total running mileage today was 6.5 miles!

Mind:
Tired, need to wrap gifts! 4 hours of sleep last night is just not going to cut it!

Soul:
Its Christmas eve!! dinner at Momma Mo's tonight is Tur-Duck-en. Family time tonight, tomorrow and all weekend. oh and presents are certainly wonderful ( both to give and to get :-) )

Santa is on his way kiddos... I am going to be checking in but probably not posting much until at least tomorrow or friday!
Merry Christmas to All if I don't see you , hear from you, or comment with you!