My Running Streak of 2020 ended yesterday, December 23. I ran 210 days in a row (a minimum of a mile every day) for a total of 1051.58 miles. That’s an average of just a smidge over 5 miles per day. This isn’t a particularly Christmasy topic, but as the conclusion of my running streak…

When Chad proposed to me, my response was, “You’re kidding.” [Note from Chad: She also gave a little laugh]. I’m not proud of this, but it’s the truth, and I feel like it’s time to go on the record with “the rest of the story” (to quote Paul Harvey, icon of my childhood). Actually, I’m…

Not only am I not a fan of long dark nights, I am not a fan of snow. Sure, a little snow for a short amount of time is fine, but Minnesota (even in this era of global warming) goes overboard. This may seem heretical to many, but although a “White Christmas” is undeniably romantic,…

I am not a fan of the limited hours of daylight we receive here in the Northern climes during winter. Yes, I can see that there are potential benefits and perhaps even deep spiritual and psychological meaning to be found in living with and in extended hours of darkness. But that doesn’t mean I like…

While there are many artifacts from my life that I wish I had managed to hold on to (like my wedding dress), I am thankful for some cherished holiday relics that I do still own: Christmas stockings that my mom made for Chad and me, and a creche. I’m not exactly sure when my mom…

Today I enjoyed a mini-miracle: I found a lost pair of Christmas pajama pants. I had been looking for these pants for several weeks, but to no avail. I had the top, but couldn’t locate the pajama bottoms. Finally, today I looked in a hamper that I had looked in at least twice before but…

Chad recently forced, I mean, inspired, me to go through some boxes of our old clothes and I came across this gem: I mean it when I say these boxes* and their contents were Old School. This particular artifact was procured when I worked at B. “Goddamn” Dalton’s (that’s how we, the employees, referred to…

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…a blog post?! That’s right, just in time for the holidays, a new Amy Blogging Challenge: The Twelve Blog Days of Christmas. No, this challenge is not going to involve a post for every item in that traditional Christmas carol. Those gifts (strange and…

“Real, because they can be imagined into being. Because some of the most wonderful things have to be believed to be seen.” One of my lines from the play “Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas.” Our little DIY theater company, Applause, pulled off a bit of a miracle this weekend: We successfully (and I think, enjoyably) presented…