Oh Christmas Tree

As promised, here is a picture of our Christmas tree.

I had a hard time really capturing it.

But it makes me really happy! I have really enjoyed sitting in our living room, drinking hot chocolate and just watching it.

Speaking of Christmas, this will be our first one to spend in our own house. The last two years we've been at my parents house. I'm kind of excited about it though...to wake up, make coffee, eat something sinful, and enjoy our morning together.

I really want to start our own Christmas traditions for our family, but I'm having a hard time coming up with anything.... we don't have kids yet, and I think it will be easier to start them then, but I would love to have some traditions that we do now as a couple. I would love to hear any ideas you have, or traditions you do.

And speaking of freezing temperatures.....it's cold here! What's weird is that it's mostly been in the 40's, and after last year when we spent a lot of time below freezing in Oklahoma, you would think it wouldn't feel too cold.

Wrong.

I feel the need to repent for all those years I took central heating for granted.

We turned on our heating unit (the big thing in the picture next to the tree) this week for the first time. We've only turned it on in the living room. It's been so lovely!!! We also bought an electric bed warmer because I have something against sleeping indoors in freezing temperatures. Granted, it has made it really hard to get out of the warm bed in the morning. But I'm sleeping and avoiding hypothermia, so everybody wins.

Also......notice I haven't been blogging about running. I looked back and last year I ran several times in below freezing temperatures. So why can't I just get out there and run??? As Daniel pointed out, I was coming home to a warm house when I ran before. It feels so cold here, because riding our bikes is our main mode of transportation, and then our house is cold, so the last thing I want to do is go run outside and risk losing a finger or something.

But because I thrive on adventure and living on the edge (ha!), I'm going to attempt a short run this afternoon. If you read this in a few hours and there is something next to the MTD running stats....feel free to congratulate me, because I survived :)

Also, I just can't not run for the next 3 months. It has less to do with weight, because as I've recently discovered, it doesn't matter if i run 20 miles/week or go a few weeks without because my body refuses to gain/lose weight no matter what I do.

So really the running is just for me. I like how I feel when I run. And being in shape is really important to me.

Enough about that....I think i need to go make some pumpkin bread.....

love

laura