just in case & a christmas roundup

....our christmas card didn't grace your mailbox (because let's be honest, i realized after i sent them all out that i had missed a whole page of addresses and was running short on cards and letters...so perhaps you are one of those who usually gets our letters and then this year, poof! nada. my apologies- it's totally my fault. i inadvertently didn't order enough! 

thanks to technology, you can peek it right here.)

meanwhile, this is kind of what december looked like around here: an insane amount of treats, family, friends, more baked goods, love in the mail in the form of holiday cards (thank you very much- i love real mail!), vacation from school!, christmas lights, finally some rain, and a mish-mash of otherness.

a photo bomb of december, from a mini showing of some small paintings to m's school art show to ruby's broken arm, a living nativity (i'll recap that action later), christmas eve aebleskivers, dinner parties, movie nights, gift making and giving and receiving, baby jesus celebrating, seeing the long-awaited annie in theatres, making baked goods and sharing with our neighbors, stormaggedon that gave the girls their very first rain day from school, december birthday celebrations of which there were multiple, and general holiday hijinks? it was a full month:

 

and somehow, inexplicable it is the end of the year. we are almost to 2015, the year in which i turn (i don't know how this is even possible) 40!

i don't know about you, but my body is feeling the month of treats and cozy nights and sleeping in and extra drinks. out with the old! in with the new! time to ramp up clean eating and moving. yesterday i worked out for maybe the third time this month and i felt myself cursing throughout my sweat session. i was frustrated that yet again i sort of put exercise on the back burner when life is full and busy; it feels selfish to take time to make slow food and to schedule a workout. how is it so easy to fall off the wagon of healthy living? how on earth is it so hard to sustain positive actions of eating well and exercise? and yet, somehow, when i was in a delusional state, i signed up fro a four-person relay at oakland's marathon. people, i hate running. people, i am crazy. but deadlines are where it's at! so off to walk or run or walk-mostly-run-a-little. love to you and yours!