Christmas and beyond

Powell River was a great time but the festivities were far from over! We celebrated Christmas in P.R on the evening of the 23rd. We had a fabulous dinner followed by an evening of gift unwrapping. It really was a treat getting to spend 4 nights with my Mom and Jim.

We departed on the 24th and with a hop, skip, and 2 ferry rides later we were back in North Vancouver. I managed to get an hour run in and quickly and then we darted off to Peter's sisters house. They have a Christmas Eve tradition that involves eating Lobster! I watched Peter (from a distance) grab the live suckers as they struggled to resist being taken into the dark abyss of the boiling pot of water. Fifteen minutes later, we were digging in and enjoying a delicious supper. That was followed by a trip over to my Uncle John's for drinks and a little balderdash. The best word of the night was Flibbertigibbet...anyone know that one?

The next morning Peter and I managed to sleep in. Well, technically it wasn't a sleep in at all because of how late we went to bed but normally 9:30am would be a sleep in. Normally we would cook up something special but because we were away and had no time to shop, we settled for toast and yogurt. We had a great time opening gifts. I was spoiled once again and I now have a lifetime supply of running gloves!

Christmas day was a gloriously sunny day and there was no better way to spend it than hiking with Peter and my Dad. We decided to hike up grouse to the top of Dam Mountain. The view was magical and it was amazingly warm. Perfect.

Peter and I came home and wrapped gifts for all his family and then went over to his sisters house again for dinner. His nieces and nephews all looked so good in their Christmas formal outfits. Another great evening with great people. I tried my first bite of Christmas pudding! Conclusion: not too shabby. It was over to my Aunt Julie's for desert and Gilder Games. This year we ended up playing a new game called Catch Phrase. It was pretty hysterical as we all got quite into it. We left around 1pm and watched the second to last episode of the first season of Dexter. We only have the season finale to go and I am dying in suspense. I can't remember the last time I stayed up so late so many nights in a row. I'm always dead tired at 8:30pm and if I ride it out to about 10pm I always manage to get a second wind.

Today, I went for my longest run since MMTR50. It was 20km and took about an hour and 50 minutes. I felt no pain, which makes me one extremely happy girl!

Alright, I am off, time to clean the house and go by some food! Sorry for the lack of pictures, my camera is dead and I need to charge the batteries.

See you in the trails.