Holiday List

Well, this is it for a few weeks....I'm off to visit home for the holidays! I do hope to get a few swims in, but I doubt it will be anything significant. I'll probably mostly be eating. So in the spirit of the holidays and thanks to Joe, here is a holiday list.

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? I prefer hot chocolate except at Christmas time too. I haven't actually had egg nog in two years. I do like buying a carton during the holidays. Yummmy....only 2 more days.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa's presents shouldn't be wrapped, he doesn't have time for wrapping!! And they are also on the fireplace, never under the tree. But anything I give is wrapped and under the tree.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? When I was a kid I loved the color, but now I prefer white. It looks so classy. And no more blinking lights!!
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope. And I've never been caught under any either. Too bad! I tried explaining mistletoe to my elementary school kids....totally didn't get it! It's so hard to explain. Why in the world do we do that?
5. When do you put your decorations up? When I was little I wanted to put them up as soon after Thanksgiving as possible. Now, I could care less. Maybe if I ever have kids then it will feel more exciting. But now it's just a lot of work for one day.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? It's all so good!!
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Wow, not sure I can answer that. There are so many great memories. But one year we hosted a Spanish exchange student and her whole family came for Christmas. I've never seen so many presents under the tree because there were over 20 people for dinner that year from 3 countries. It was amazing. Plus, her one older brother was really cute!
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? In 3rd grade Santa brought me a train set. But it was missing a piece so my mom pulled out the receipt and called the store. I caught her!
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? It's a fight in our house every year. My mom opened all her gifts on Christmas Eve, but my dad opened on Christmas Day. My sister and I vote for Christmas Day too. That way you have all day to enjoy your gifts. But as a compromise we open one on Christmas Eve, it's always new winter pajamas. Usually a matching set for the girls. The year the Spanish family was visiting, my mom made all the girls matching flanner teddy bear pajamas! They were and still are so cute. But they were a tad bit big for all of us. I think I could wear them if I was having twins.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With lots of homemade decorations. The family gathers round and everyone puts one up and if there is special memory we talk about it.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? I love it if I can snowboard. I hate it if it makes getting to work a chore.
12. Can you ice skate? My first boyfriend tried to teach me, but I haven't tried it since.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Eek, I don't remember gifts very well. I'm sure I could if I had too...but nothing springs to mind at the moment.
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? This year being with my family because it's the first Christmas I'll be at home for since I came to Japan over two years ago.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? My dad's key lime pie.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Eating homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning while sitting in our new pajamas opening presents and listening to the new CD that someone got in a stocking.
17. What tops your tree? An angel.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving. I get embarrased to receive!
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night. I have several versions of it, I love it!
20. Candy canes? Not a huge fan.
21. Favorite Christmas movie? Muppet Christmas Carol and all the other traditional ones are good too!
22. What do you leave for Santa? Carrot juice

2400m

500s
200k
500p
400 alt k/drill by 50's IM order
200k
4x100 IM
200s

Total: 2400m 1hr.

I've been sick off and on all week. And today my voice is really starting to go. But after baking cookies all day with my students I had to get to the pool and wash away the greasy goodness. I could feel it seeping into my skin! But because of the sickness, I was having problems breathing tonight. Pretty low energy swim....kinda felt like trying to swim through concrete. Regardless, it felt great to be in the water and moving a bit. It'll be nice to have some week nights back after this choir concert is over on Sunday. New Year's Resolution=pool at least 2x a week!!

A Little B-ball

Ha ha ha....this is how desperate I'm getting. I have NO time to get to the pool. It's too cold to bike, well, okay, probably not, but I HATE being cold! And I'm seriously craving movement!

So today, I headed to the school gym after classes ended. It was great. I got invited to join a basketball game. Damn, I haven't played baskeball like that since junior high school. But let me clarify...I was playing with 4th & 5th grade boys. And they were amazing! The star on the court had his arm in a cast and was still making every shot and dribbling, passing, blocking, guarding, etc. like he was playing in the final four. I fell once and bruised my knee, almost sprained my ankle and got hit in the head with a ball and my glasses went flying (no damage). Ha ha ha...I'm getting old! But I did make a few good shots. And hopefully gained a bit of respect with those boys. They're a tough crowd. I think I'll be back next week!

40 minutes of cardio!! Great!!

A Dry Run

I was up at 5:20am. In the car with my bagel and chai by 6:15. JP and I met at the designated IC at 7 and we were in Hakuba a few minutes before 8. And there was NO SNOW! Seriously...what?? All the reports said the ski parks were open and it was supposed to be snowing this morning. Okay...so we tried three parks and all three were open, but there wasn't snow within sight of the parking lot. Maybe somewhere near the top there was snow, but none from where we stood. Boarders and skiers were still going up, but when we asked what was open, they were packing a few hundred people into 1-2 short runs at the top. And they wanted us to pay 4500Y ($40US). I think not!

So we crawled back in our car, drove back down to sea level and enjoyed a lovely meal of mac & cheese while watching a few episodes of "The Wonder Years" under the kotatsu (heated table covered with a blanket).

At least I know where all my gear is, and did a run through. So when the real day actually comes, I'll be SOOOOO ready!!

SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW

1700m

700s
300k
500p
200s

Total: 1700m 40min.

Yep, I haven't been to the pool for almost two weeks...pathetic. But between choir practice, eikaiwas, studying, Christmas parties, packing and shopping, there has been NO TIME!! Today my big outing got cancelled, so I thought I'd make it to the pool with lots of time for a nice long workout. But all I could think about was all the things I have to do before I leave! Eek...so it was in and out and on to other things. But while I was in I had two under water lookers today. And one woman stopped me in the locker room to comment that I was as fast as the olympic swimmers. Ha ha ha....she obviously doesn't watch swimming!!!

And tomorrow....I'm gonna try out my new snowboard (a rental).