Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!!

(I am such a Peanuts fan that I couldn't help it!)

First and foremost, Merry Christmas to you and yours!! May today be full of love and fellowship and delight and wonder! It's such a fabulous day and time of year ... I'm invigorated in the Winter, and Christmas is a huge part of that!!

Okay, check this out ... last night at dinner, Pit Crew #3 asked me what I wanted for Christmas. Just an hour prior, I found I was locked out of my blog for some random reason, so I told him that I'd like to be able to get back into my blog. And, here I am!! A technological Christmas miracle if I ever heard of one!

I'm so stoked to be back in, too, because yesterday's post was to feature this:

That's not just the crew ... that's the crew on Friday about to take a nighttime 3-mile run to view Christmas lights!! Oh, yeah!! Friday was supposed to be my Rest Day, but in the afternoon, I thought about how fun it would be for all of us to go out and see Christmas lights on foot ... and then, if we run, guess who didn't have to get up on Saturday morning to do so!! Totally selfish motivation on that last part OR win-win, you make the call! Anyway, I pitched it to the family, they immediately took me up on it, and that was that! Plan in place! Yahoo!!

So, about an hour before we headed out, I got together a pre-jog snack:

Some protein, some slow-release energy ... all good! (and on Peanuts plates ... doesn't that make it even better? I think so.)

It was in the mid-30s when we headed out ... ex-cell-ent exercise weather because that temp keeps me cool while I'm getting hot, and it's not so cold that I freeze immediately upon stopping. It seemed a good temperature for everyone else, too, because no one complained (and no one around here is shy about complaining about the temperature, so I knew we were good!).

Can I just tell you that taking pictures in the dark while holding Elly's leash is a very difficult task?!

See? When your arm gets jerked because Elly doesn't care that you
are taking a picture, you get this. Look close ... it's Snoopy on his dog
house. Maybe Elly was just jealous.

We liked this house ... yup, Elly's still tugging ... the girl had places
to go ... things to smell ... many, many yards to mark ... sheesh ...

We loved this big, fat snowman!!

The lights weren't the only things a-glow ... check out Aaron!

Between the flashlight, the camera glow and
Aaron's vest, we felt might safe! And, Aaron
blended right in with the theme of the run, huh?!

Do you think that picture would have ever happened had I not given him the leash? Um, no! My arm was finished being tugged by that point in the run. Besides ... remember how I was all about saying Aaron's arm action got his speed up? I was not kidding ... he took off like a shot on this journey and kept the pace way up! Giving him the leash chilled him out a bit and helped the littler legs of the group keep up better!

Speaking of the kiddos ... Wow. They were impressive!! This route is not the easiest because it has some hills that used to make me want to cry a little bit. But, they did it ... when they needed to walk, they just did. No discussion, no explaination, no apology: No issue. They did what they had to do to keep going, period. I sincerely doubt the walking vs. running issue that so many adults struggle with even entered their minds. They just ... went. That is how it should be. Well done, my little ones!! I'm so very proud of you!!

We arrived home all in need of showers for sure, but all were really, really happy!!

Gotta love those pink cheeks!

That was such a fun outing! Pit Crew #3 even asked last night if we could do it again ... so he could sleep better (given his Christmas Eve ants in his pants!!).

And, with that run, I call it a year as I officially declared this last week Rest Week!! Yeah!! I said it was coming ... how could that not have been the best way to wrap it up?! Thank you, dear family, for hearing my idea and just going with it! I had a blast!!

As it is now Christmas, we are about to dive into our lasagna ... you know, the one I made with the artichoke flour noodles!!! (served on my new Peanuts plates!! Oh, yeah!!!) I can't wait to report on the outcome! It's Rest Week, but you know I have things going on to get me ready to start the new year ... and training for the upcoming Half!!

Merry Christmas ... may you, too, be blessed with family and friends and wrapped in the love of the holiday. See you tomorrow!