Christmas Day bombed! Don’t panic..that’s good. Starting off a day with a run is almost always a guarantee that it’ll turn out right, but yesterday just had that extra Christmas magic happening. To be clear, I rarely spend Christmas in New York but go back to Georgia to enjoy it with the family. Over ten years, I may have spent two Christmases in the city and one was with my family from Georgia. So choosing to stay in New York this year was a big deal and could have very well been a hit and miss. To begin with the family was much smaller this year..what would that bring? Then there’s the fact that much of Christmas in the past was spent at house parties and get-together with my friends in Georgia – true southern style. Christmas in New York was relatively new territory to me.
(Photo Credit: STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
After a late night of food preparation and organizing, I managed to drag myself from bed around 8:30 am and headed out the door a half hour later. Turns out, the weather was pretty decent for running – slight chill but endless sunshine and blue skies. This made for an easy 5 mile run through my neighborhood in relative quiet with just one other runner sighting. Trust me,.nothing excites runners like clean streets when we have to run them, so that was darn cool already. Tempted though I was to up the mileage, I restrained myself as I had plans for church with the family. But I felt exhilarated and energized – simply wonderful – running out there on Christmas morning and I dare it set the tone for the rest of my day.
Christmas Altar
Church happened, it was beautiful and close by, which was immensely helpful as we didn’t have to deal with commuting. Definitely praise-worthy. When we returned home there was the gifts exchange bit, which is always a fun time and then I prepared a couple of dishes to complete dinner prep. Though I didn’t sit down for very long during this time, I was energized and happy bustling around getting stuff organized. I retired the kitchen and sat down to an early Christmas dinner around 5pm, too hungry for words. For even though I had been cooking, I hadn’t really eaten anything for the day.
Dinner Table
After dinner I collapsed on the couch for a bit of TV time and hung out with the family for the rest of the evening alternating between some idle chatter, goofy jokes and a couple of movies with a few eats and drinks in between. We crowned off the night watching, what is now a new family tradition, How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Truth be told, I have never felt more satisfied and relaxed on Christmas Day than I did yesterday; It must be a New York thing.
“The Grinch”
The morning after is Running time. Though there was no over-eating for me, I judiciously followed my after-Christmas-Day-tradition. It was up and running about 9am for a couple of hours at one of my favorite running spots. At Brookfield Park, I revelled in the sounds of nature and the cool breeze and kiss of sunshine. I felt like nature responded to my deep sense of appreciation as the sky appeared bluer, the birds sang merrier, the rustle of the leaves were louder and the fall colors (still evident) were brighter, even the sun was hotter and that was ok..it’s Georgia’s merry christmas and I love running it. I’m pretty sure the local folks wonder at my over-enthusiasm but I always feel right at home as there are other like-minded runners out – enthusiasm a bit tapered maybe – but we rock running all the same and that’s all that matters.
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