Planes, Trains, and Running Shoes

I think I was on the "Nice List" this year.

Surprisingly, I had a pretty great Christmas.

I had to work up until Friday afternoon and luckily, my mom lives just a short train ride away from the city in New Jersey, so I was out of work and home in less than 2 hours on Friday. My mom and I popped open some wine coolers and had lunch before I got dressed and headed over to The Pilot's house for Christmas with his family.

We had organized a Secret Santa between the six of us (The Pilot, his brother, sister and each of their significant others.We drew names at Thanksgiving and arranged it so that none of us could get ourselves or our significant others. It ended up being pretty funny because we got his brother and his wife, they got his sister and her boyfriend, who in turn got The Pilot and me. So all of the couples ended up with each other. I got an awesome new Nike running shirt from his sister and his mom bought me the most beautiful coat that I've been eying for months. Best part? She had no idea.

My new coat!

The Pilot had an early trip out on Saturday morning so he missed Christmas with my family. We celebrated Noche Buena with roast pork, rice and beans, mashed yuca, guayaba pasteles and rum punch. And because roast pork only comes once a year, this vegetarian of 5 years digged in and had a little bit of the Christmas pig. After dinner, we opened presents.

I was really excited about the presents I got my nieces. Let me tell you, Christmas is way more fun when there are little kids around. They loved their presents and I actually enjoyed Christmas this year because of them.

After everyone left, my mom and I decided to go to Midnight Mass. It was...ok. I used to love going to church but ever since the Catholic church decided to completely change everything about Mass, I'm finding it a lot harder to enjoy Mass.

Anyway, Christmas morning, I woke up and opened presents from "Santa" with my mom. We drank mimosas and ate cinnamon rolls...always a holiday tradition at my house. My mom is amazing and got me the best presents, including, a gorgeous Coach bag so that I have a nice, professional looking purse when I start interviewing for jobs this spring.

Coach!

After we opened presents, I went for a quick run and headed to the airport to board a flight for Nashville!

My handsome Pilot and I

Christmas Decorations outside the Gaylord

Beautiful!

When we got back from dinner, The Pilot and I exchanged gifts. He got me some fantastic Lululemon winter running gear and I got him the new Kindle Fire. I was so excited to see how surprised he was with his gift. It totally made my Christmas. After exchanging gifts, we passed out and woke up at 4:30 the next morning so that he could continue his trip and I could make the trek back to Newark. I spent the day with my mom lounging around watching movies and then he came over and set up his new Kindle Fire. Mom and I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" which I can now cross off The Movie List and I absolutely loved it.

Yesterday, I went to the movies with my sister and her two girls and The Pilot and I spent the day at the movies

Today, I'm back at work. It's absurdly quiet at my office today which I'm thrilled about. I'm here until tomorrow and them I'm off again for New Year's weekend. I'm trying to follow The Pilot on another trip this weekend to go spend some time in Chicago with him and my two favorite newlyweds. We'll see where the rest of the weekend takes me! Then, it's time to bring 2012 into full swing with training for the Madrid Marathon, writing my thesis and planning my world adventures for the New Year!