A Rendezvous with Sneakers

I decided to write a quick post  upload loads of photos while I listen to the rain pattering away on the windows. Nope, no snow; just rain.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving; I was able to have it off from work, and the Hudson Valley was blessed Thanksgiving Eve with a snowstorm, which made it feel more like Christmas Eve actually. It was nice to have the day off with family, and my sisters, mother and I took part in the Ferncliff Forest Turkey Trot (the last time I ran it and wrote about it was back in 2010!) I was thankful that the oragnizers did not postpone the race, as other 5ks in the area had been due to the incliment weather. The last 5k I did was the off-road Billy Goat 5k and I agree with prior posts in that I am not a fan of 5ks. I mean it is great that they don’t take that long to do (less than 24minutes), but I’m not used to that all-out-I’m-going-to-barf effort. I supposed with training I could get used to it. But with my sights set on an Ironman, training isn’t based around short distances. That being said, I do have speed workouts everyweek. A part of me was hoping to beat my time from my 5k last year, but, I guess this fall isn’t my year. Anyway, it was fun having the family around for the race and that they were able to take part and do the walk.

Seesters and mom

Thanksgiving weekend the fam did our Christmas decorating, which was awesome, because I cannot remember the last time we all decorated the Christmas Tree–I don’t think we have all gone tree hunting, either. Atleast from what I can remember….Christmas cookie baking and holiday decorating was a blast.

Does the tree have the right Christmas tree smell?

Kevin, our arborist, making sure there are enough branches in the correct spaces

Everyone has their part to play in the tree decorating

Kevin and his bicycle wheel wreath!

Final touches require some assistance

Et voila!

cupcake decorating is no joke

I give cookie decorators mucho credit for their patience.

A couple days ago I was able to coherce Kevin into our yearly “Walk around Rhinebeck and look at the window displays.” I’ve found the trick to having him compliant with my requests to take photos infront of the Rhinebeck Christmas Tree: buy him a soft pretzel with brown mustard along with a Mad Elf beer. 😛 I must applaud Rhinebeck this year, as the window displays are quite good. Even Kevin admitted the displays were better than years past.

I love anything shiny or that sparkles.

Happy Holidays!