2nd Christmas

It's only Dec. 22 and I feel like I already celebrated Christmas.  At my parents in MI we did most of the things we normally do for Christmas only several days early.  All the foods we normally eat, but with a gluten free twist on some of them for me.  No else seemed to like the gluten free Pulla (a Finnish sweet bread), but I did.  I guess I'm not used to my bread being as fluffy and soft, so I was happy to eat it.  That and the gluten free thumbprint cookies sure did taste good.  I got in lots of XC skiing at least once a day and some running too.  I thought running was going to be so easy coming down from altitude, but with the cold air and snowy roads/trails it felt much harder.  It felt so much easier running here today in 40+ degree weather and dry conditions.  I really missed having the dogs and Adam there.  Next time we'll have to figure out a way to get us all there.  My sister's dog Charley Brown, who is a German Short haired pointer served as a good substitute buddy for the time I was there.  She is a lot like Frito, only with 10x the energy.

So I've already opened all the presents from my family but I have all Adam's and his parents left to go on Christmas.  I feel like I got so much already.  Adam and I are deciding what foods and traditions we want to incorporate into our Christmas.  We both have traditions we are used to that we want to keep so it should interesting. 

Mickey's newest trick is taking the tennis ball and dropping it in the toilet.  He is such a character.

I managed to avoid getting my sister's cold until the very last night I was in MI.  Not a bad one but definitely warranted a day off training so I didn't get worse.  Since I flew in late am and had all day off work, I was going to bike and swim after I got home. That turned into a 3 hour nap with Cooper.  Better to rest than end up really sick.

1 more day of work tomorrow and then a 3 day weekend.  I have to figure out what I am going to cook for my 2nd Christmas!