The long awaited Christmas recap

Wow, it's been awhile. I haven't taken a blogging break like this in quite some time, but I am still in upstate NY visiting my family, so I thought I'd give them my full attention. Unfortunately, those non-teachers had to return to work today, so here I am. I don't even know where to begin....

In my Christmas Traditions post, I explained how my family does Christmas fairly comprehensively, so I won't go through it again. Also, I'm guessing a lot of you had Christmases that involved everyone sitting near the tree, opening presents, and sitting around a table eating, so you probably have a pretty clear idea how it all went down. I do have some pictures to share, however.

My Christmas pjs - open me first knows me so well!

Eric is a great person to buy for, he always knows how to show excitement.

I know, this outfit is completely new and different! I totally didn't wear it to school on the 23rd, either.

As if I didn't already love Christmas enough, Eric made me love it even more when he proposed on Christmas Eve, 2006. 

Awww....look how young we were

5 years later, same picture, different tree

Santa still comes in our house - the lack of children doesn't dissuade him

Stockings are the most important part of Christmas

Deep fryer and pizza stone - eating healthy is a true priority for the Lindsey household

Half Ironman here I come!

My teacher friends understand my excitement here

My sister got me the best gift ever. Eric got me a photobomb.

On Monday, we met up with some good friends that all live out of state now. We hadn't seen most of them in quite awhile, so Eric was extra excited to show off his new gift from my mom.

In Saturday's post, I mentioned I lost my voice, but felt ok otherwise. Well, the "ok otherwise" part rapidly went downhill as the holiday continued. By Monday night, I couldn't even get through a sentence without a coughing fit, so Eric took me to an Urgent Care facility. I'm quite the expert on these type of places now, and we both rated this one as by far the best we've seen. Just look at what the waiting room had to offer:

We were then escorted to a private room.and given the remote to a private TV. In a similar facility near our house in Baltimore, I was lucky to have a curtain pulled around a chair separating me from the other patients. 

The doctor was nice enough to examine me, but I'm pretty sure the receptionist could have diagnosed bronchitis. Eric having to give all my information because I couldn't speak without nearly falling out of my chair due to coughing was a clue.

Needless to say, I haven't been running since Saturday and my enforced rest has no end in sight. 

That's basically how I spent Tuesday.

I got to watch Love Actually (my first time!), Bad Teacher, and Super 8 in my convalescence. I loved them all.

When you can't work out, it's important to maintain your health by eating sensibly, so we busted out my Christmas gift to Eric.

Fried peeps

Believe it or not, fried peeps didn't work out exactly as we'd envisioned

We immediately followed the fried peeps with fried pickles and fried peanut butter.

Bright side to being sick - I've had lots of time to enjoy my new obsession.

Ironically, I have done a long run with bronchitis before and ended up in Patient First. That's not the the ironic part. The ironic part is that I've used that as both a cautionary tale to other runners, and as proof that I've learned my lesson. Well, apparently not so much. Everyone, enjoy your runs a little bit extra for me this week, and I promise to enjoy my controlled substance (codeine) cough syrup a little extra for you.

To cheer me up, tell me a time you thought you learned your lesson, but then totally relapsed. Or just something totally dumb you did. Don't be embarrassed, we all know I share enough dumb things on this blog.