Does Santa Wear Boxer Shorts?

I love Christmas. It combines a whole bunch of my favorite things- winter:

Ok, fine, there wasn't any snow, but that didn't stop us from taking a Christmas eve ride, on which Big E managed to take a selfie of me. I guess this is more fun than taking a self of himSELF:

We'll just call this an Elfie.

Now back to those things I love- comfort food, gift giving,

(Many of this year's gifts were handmade, one of which caused a slight hand casualty. The gift survived, however, and now I know KT tape and scotch tape work well as bandaids in a pinch.)

snuggling, twinkly lights, candles and most of all.........STOCKINGS!

It's a Thompson tradition for Santa to place the stocking on the end of the bed for immediate opening on Christmas morning. What was probably a way to keep me in my room until a decent hour as a kid has become my favorite part of Christmas as an adult. It's like breakfast in bed but gifts are involved.

Thankfully my family and perfectly awesome boyfriend humor my love of this tradition, which has clearly gotten out of control. What was once one stocking on my bed has become this:

Yes, I am actually attempting to sleep in that bed. No- those stockings are not all for me. I share them with Big E and Wally, the giraffe who doubles as a Christmas tree:

Needless to say, I was up at 6:30am Christmas morning because there was no longer any room in the bed to sleep. I'm pretty sure I got a glimpse of Santa in boxer shorts at some point. Maybe the yule log in the fireplace made him hot. I also discovered he likes whiskey better than Buckeyes.

Santa has never been normal in my house. When I was a kid he liked bologna salad, now he likes whiskey. I guess he gets enough cookies everywhere else.

Next year I'm gonna leave him the whole bottle and see what happens. (I'll probably wake up and find him naked in the kitchen.)

Other highlights of my Christmas included finally getting something gluten free made with yeast to rise. (Another Christmas miracle.)

 Fun socks.

 Baking my first ham.

 And getting an apron so I can help Big E make candy. (Now all I need is an elf hat.)

Hope your Christmas was awesome and Santa kept his clothes on!

My Christmas Miracle

A Christmas miracle has occurred.

No, the miracle is not that our neighbors have managed to fit all of this into their yard because, in fact, they didn't. They've borrowed part of the neighbor's yard as well. At least they're in the Christmas spirit.

The miracle is also not that I successfully made it through three crazy busy work weeks as a result of my recent commitment to saying yes to everything. I don't think I can really count it as that much of a miracle if at some point I ended up at the dinner table like this.

No, the real Christmas miracle here is that I was asked out while running.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking- why am I so worked up over being asked out when I already have a perfectly good boyfriend. (More than good actually but I liked how that sentence sounded.) The truth is, I'm not actually excited about being asked out, I'm just over the moon that, after four years, a stranger in MN was actually friendly.

Normally on a run here, I say "hello", "hi" and/or "how are you" numerous times without a response. You'd think after four years of being ignored I'd give up, but I'm way too stubborn for that so I just keep on my merry way, day after day, hoping someone will talk to me. I do get the occasional head nod or quick response, but more often than not I return home completely rejected in my quest to make Minnesotans speak to strangers. On Sunday, however, my luck changed. I passed a guy on  my way down the trail. My quick "hi" got nothing, but my more insistent "how are you" at least got a response. It must've also made an impression because on my return home, when I encountered the same guy again, he asked if I'd like to have a post run beer.

In case you were wondering- no, I did not actually have a beer with a complete stranger. I do have a perfectly good boyfriend after all. Instead, I explained that I had to get home and had a good laugh with the guy when he said, "Hey, it was worth a shot."

Yes, yes it was. Being friendly is always worth a shot, even when you don't get the response you wanted, because someday you'll get it and it will make your day.

So- there you have it. My Christmas miracle. A friendly stranger after all these years. I guess I'll keep up my quest to keep Minnesota nice, even if I have to pass on the post-run beers.

 

Thankful for the Goodbye

Thanksgiving was an excellent way to begin my goodbye to hate after writing my last post. After all, it was the four year anniversary of the day I met Big E riding with a bunch of people I didn't know on my first Thanksgiving morning in MN. We've continued the tradition every year so we definitely couldn't let this year's muddy snow storm scare us off.

Let's just say Max has been properly broken in.

Overall, the day included an adventure, good conversations and not a bit of hate (even during my heated snowball fight with the niece and nephews). I'd say I'm off to a good start....