remedial originality: 17 weeks

This week was pretty darn good. I missed one run, but I nailed everything else. The kids are out of school for Christmas so things were pretty interesting around here. We took an overnight trip to Seguin/San Marcos to see my sweet niece play college basketball at my first university (Texas Lutheran University - home of the Bulldogs!). I feel like I *literally* turned myself inside out this week to get everything in and still be fully present for Christmas. If one missed run is what it took, I'm ok with that.

Sporting my new Boco trucker from my secret Santa, Susan! Kids fully engrossed in their movie...

Me and my babies at my first dorm room - Clifton 101. So much mischief took place here!

Christmas Eve-Eve brought me an hour swim all by my lonesome and a 10k with Nicole and Melissa. I met my little family at the Red Oak for pancakes afterwards and then spent the rest of the days with the inlaws. Pretty great day, all in all...

Christmas Eve brought me a 50+ mile trainer ride and a 20-minute run with my dog. Afterwards, we spent the day together, tracking Santa, attending Christmas Eve service at church (and subsequently crying quite a lot - Jesus is pretty amazing), and wrapping gifts into the wee hours of the night. Hubby and I began this tradition our first year in our first home. We don't wrap anything until Christmas Eve. We open up a bottle of wine, eat Santa's cookies, and wrap until we're finished. We love to sit and talk about high points from the year, low points, what we could have done differently, and dream about the future. 2017 has big, big, big plans for us and we really needed this time to reconnect as a couple and discuss our game plan.

Tracking Santa on Norad. One of my favorite things to do!

Wine, empty tree, Amazon warehouse explosion, and finished tree - my favorite night of the year.

Christmas morning brought much needed rest and time with us four, no more. We loved the quiet and the excitement and everything in between. The kids were super stoked about robots, Beanie Boos, and a new bike. Crazy Texas brought us 80 degree weather, so we spent some time in the pool with our friends. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!