Christmas Light Run For Two

Hubby's running group does this fun thing every year where they run through a neighborhood known for it's holiday light displays, then they meet for coffee and do a t-shirt exchange of old race shirts. He missed the run this year so he and I decided to go for a Christmas light run together. It was cold but pleasant outside and we ran through an area of town that we never run in, which always livens up a boring old running routine. There were so many lights that we didn't even need the flashlights we brought. We were both wearing our Illuminite jackets, so if a car came by, we probably lit up like Christmas trees ourselves!

This house was the highlight and was timed to music (should've thought to bring MP3 players). But it was still spectacular all on its own. Luckily, there weren't too many cars pulling up while we were there, there's nothing worse than running through a cloud of car-idling exhaust (you can click here for my anti-Idling, manifesto). One big Hummer limousine pulled up though.

Afterwards, it was coffee together (real adult conversation! for over an hour!) and we bought the kids their Christmas books which we give them on Christmas eve. It's getting harder and harder to find a book for the teenager. Most Christmas books are for kids, of course, and the ones that are for adults (A Christmas Carol) are few and far between. If anyone has suggestions, I'll add them to my list for next year. Maybe I need to write a young adult Christmas book, I bet it would sell well! But fortunately it was Lemony Snicket to the rescue. The author of the Unfortunate Events series has written a couple of very funny holiday books.

Last year I  got The Lump of Coal which is just the most hilarious Christmas book ever (at least our family thought so) and Mackenzie has a HUGE sense of humor so that was a big hit. This year I got him The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming which looks pretty cute as well. For Asa, the perennial animal lover, I got The First Dog's White House Christmas. It looks cute, with all kinds of dogs from other countries visiting the White House for Christmas (cattle dog from Australia, chihuahua from Mexico, etc.).

So with that, all of our Christmas shopping is done and we can settle back and enjoy the holiday. We're having friends and neighbors over to go caroling tonight.