Well, we have started the third week of November.  We ran the race route again yesterday, and I was a full minute SLOWER than last week, and this was a decent run!  I worked on my breathing to keep the cramps away, thankfully it helped this time.  Uh, so I guess my 72-74 minute goal is definitely out of the picture.  I will probably run it in more like 77.  =(  Oh well, I will keep training and maybe this time next year I will have a faster pace.  So, his Saturday is race day!


Also, for my birthday my precious husband got me a massage!!! Woo hoo.  I am debating if I use it the afternoon after the race, or do it the following Tuesday morning, so I can take the baby to school, get my massage and then come home and relax.  We are headed to Memphis sometime that week, either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.  I am unsure which.. so I guess that will partially be determined by when I schedule the massage.  Massage is a wonderful way to maintain overall body health; people consider it a luxury when it should be part of your regular health maintenance, like an annual checkup or going to the dentist.  It helps detoxify your body and keeps muscles and tendons loose.  This helps keep your body in alignment, which is so important for everything from walking to breathing.  Did you know your nasal passages can become constricted when your body is out of alignment?  …. ‘Just sayin.


So, needless to say, I am looking so forward to the massage.  And speaking of my birthday, thank you for the cards, phone calls, and messages online.  It’s really just another day for me, espcially since it always falls on the opening of deer season.  (hence the massage ..)  We don’t really celebrate until a few weeks after, when hunting isn’t such a big deal anymore.  haha  And I am fine with this for two reasons, A) I like to have deer meat in my freezer vs buying nasty, mushy, processed beef at the grocery and B) we have had this understanding since we started dating.  Fortunately for Lexie and me, J.Tom hunts about 15 minutes from the house so if we need him he can be home quickly, and most of the time he doesn’t camp.  


Can you believe November is halfway over?  That just seems crazy to me.  Every week since September has just flown.  Now here we are among the holidays, and Christmas is just around the corner!  This will be Lexie’s first Christmas to open gifts.  I realize people probably think I am nuts, but I don’t think we will do the BIG Christmas thing.  I don’t know, maybe I will change my mind.  I just don’t want my kids to think it is about presents and material things, but I want them to get the enjoyment of giving and receiving, too.  Ideally, we will do 3 gifts per child each year and then stockings.  I know family likes to do lots of goodies for the kiddos, and I understand that.  Heck, without Christmas gifts my home wouldn’t be furnished or nearly as decorative as it is, so we enjoy the giving and receiving too.  I just don’t want my children to think that is all there is to the season, even though they know it’s about Jesus and his birth …  well, really He wasn’t born in December and the month is named for the Romans, who weren’t Christian.  And it is a “holiday” created by the commercial industry … BUT underneath all that it has a real purpose.  =)


I remember having BIG Christmas mornings.  Everything would be set up in the living room, doll houses, bikes, and books.  There would be packages of clothes, LOADS of books, Barbies.  Jeremy always asked for some sort of figurines from like the Aliens series, or playing cards to the Magic games.  I remember getting my microscope (best gift ever), telescope, (Yes, I was a nerd, even then), and the time my Daddy got me a birthstone ring and it was hidden in a basket on my bike!  That was super cool.  I would really like for my kids to have Christmases like that, but also keep things in perspective.  Funny, I remember always feeling like I needed to say “thank you” to my parents because I was truly thankful and wanted them to know that.  But I also remember thinking “If I tell them ‘thank you,’ they will know I don’t believe in Santa, and that may hurt their feelings.”  I never really believed in Santa- there was always this sense that our presents were hidden at my Granny’s house; I don’t know if they really were, or not… I remember when I decided there was no Santa, one night my brother came running in my room and asked if I heard the bells?  I told him no, and he said that He’d heard Santa’s bells, so he must be on his way.  I think I was about 7 or 8 when he did that…  When I would ask my mom about Santa, you know the whole “Mom, is there really Santa, or do yall just say that,” bit, she would say something like “Yea!  There’s a Santa.  Why wouldn’t there be?”  I always knew that was a BS response … 


What do/will you do for your children’s Christmas?  Will you let them believe in Santa, or tell them the “truth?”