December 3

We started into December (the crazy-whirlwind month it is!) by setting up our tree.  Until Saturday we had only a fake tree, but when we brought it out that morning we could tell the rats had been having a rat-tastic time in the box all fall.  We quickly wrapped up the box and brought it down to the Salvation Arm.  It was time for our first real tree!  The tree farms opened for the season on Saturday, conveniently enough, and we chose Snow Dog Tree Farm as our destination.  Upon arrival we were greeted by the largest dog I've ever seen, the Snow Dog himself.  The enormous dog with paws like dinner plates was very happy to see the first customers of the season and he followed close behind us smelling Butter's scent rolling off our bodies.

We grabbed a saw and a wagon and set out hunting for the best tree on the whole darn farm.  Most of the trees we saw, while beautiful, were way to big to fit in our small space.  Nobles and firs littered the fields and we slogged our way through them all ("Hey Shane, most people cut down Christmas trees in the snow, we cut down Christmas trees in small lakes!") Finally, on the last row of trees we found what we were looking for, a full, short and beautiful tree.  Shane cut our tree down like a boss (30 seconds! it couldn't have been any longer) and we wrestled it back through the ankle deep swamp and up the hill to the car.  $40 later, the tree stuck with it's top end trailing from the back window of the car we sped off home with a quick detour for a tree stand.

The real fun began in our yearly Christmas argument (always about silly things) when we tried to get the tree to stand up straight.  It only toppled over a few times before we got the correct ratio of support versus lean.With that settled we plugged in the lights.  Two strands broken, two strands working. Not very good odds if you ask me. With the tree sprinkled in light we dressed it with decorations, most of which are from my in-laws.  I don't mind receiving ornaments one bit, but somehow instead of two from every year there are 6 from 2007, and one from 2011.  Kinda strange.  Our tiny apartment is now officially bathed in Christmas (bonus in small spaces, much bigger impact decorating).

View from the top of the hill I ran.

Sunday morning I spent on a long run (long being a funny word because it's all relative), but my pace was slow (on purpose) at 1:43 for 16.09km.  Rant: I use two tracking programs for every run, because my training plan tends to shut down or stop recording mid way through my runs. (They're all pieces of crap! Even my $10 program)  The training program clocked me at 16.09km and my backup (very reliable) program clocked me at 16.27km.  That's quite a discrepancy!  What would you do? How do I know?  Inside that run was a hill, a very steep hill. A 250 meter gain elevation in 500 meters.  So that brought my time down too.

Post run (I swear I could not have been more wet if I tried, it downpoured the entire time!) I laid on the couch, as I often do, reading this book.  Seriously amazing, if this doesn't inspire wanderlust you are not meant to travel.  I feel so inspired!  If you know me, you know I'm currently scheming about how to make this happen.  (And it will, or it better).  For lunch I made lasagna, but not just any lasagna.  I made the classic meat and cheese lasagna of your dreams.  From here on out, this recipe will be mine. I'm putting it in my recipe binder, which of course makes it official.  I suggest you do the same.