Hey everyone! Sorry for the break in blogging, but yesterday was my husband’s birthday and I decided to hang out with him instead of blogging 🙂 But now I’m back and I’m super excited about CHRISTMAS! As you might know, I am pretty obsessed with Christmas. I’m one of those people who starts listing to Christmas music on Thanksgiving, puts my tree up on Black Friday, and gets excited when I see really awesome Christmas lights. I personally think that the entire Christmas season is even better than Christmas day, because it’s filled with so many different exciting things to do to get you in the Christmas spirit! Now that Christmas is tomorrow (AAAAHHHH!!!!) I thought I would recap my favorite things about Christmas! If you haven’t done any of these things yet, don’t worry because you still have a few hours left!
Christmas Lights:
I’m not sure about your town, but Philly is full of crazy Christmas lights! I’m jealous of everyone who gets the chance to go running through these Christmasy areas. If you live in South Philly or Center City you’ve got a ton of options for walking or running through amazing Christmas light displays! Here are some of my favorites:
Longwood Gardens
More pretty lights at Longwood Gardens – my favorite place at Christmas!
South 13th St. in South Philly
Rittenhouse Square and the red and green Philly skyline!
In love with those trees!
Macy’s Center City Christmas lights
Snowy Weather:
I’m kind of in love with snow. I don’t think Philly gets nearly enough! I think it has already snowed about 4 times during this Christmas season, and might actually snow tonight! And we all know that the best kind of snow is Christmas snow 🙂 I also find that I’m more distracted while running in the snow which means that I can run farther!
The snow looks prettier with Christmas lights!
Festive Food:
You all saw my post about peppermint foods (if not, check it out here!), but Christmas is filled with so many yummy foods! My favorite would probably be Christmas cookies. On Saturday, I hosted a cookie swap party complete with some festive beers and peppermint schnapps hot chocolate. It was such a fun way to hang out with my friends, and a great excuse to bake a ton of cookies! I made these chocolate crinkle cookies and they were so delicious that I actually had to make another batch yesterday! The best thing about this cookie recipe is that you make the batter (takes about 10 minutes) and then you have to refrigerate it for about 4 hours before baking. I never have time to make cookies, but with this recipe you can split up the time you’re baking to fit into your schedule! Plus they taste amazing!
I think it’s worth running an extra mile just to eat one of these!
Christmas Music:
I have a few stations on Pandora that are totally devoted to Christmas music, and they always help me get through awful traffic jams before/after work. You can’t be upset while Christmas music is playing! I dare you to turn on “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” and not sing along. Try it.
So now it’s time for you to let me know what your favorite things are about Christmas! What are your favorite places to see Christmas lights? What’s your favorite Christmas song? And share a link to your favorite Christmas recipe! I want to hear all about how excited you are!
And to all of my readers, Merry Christmas! I hope you get all of the fabulous running items that were on your Christmas lists this year!
Mom in the Mtns 
I love this post! I think we may be the same person, Christmas-spirit wise. I totally agree that the days leading up to Christmas are even better than Christmas Day itself. In fact, I find Christmas Night a little sad 😦 Christmas Eve is my favorite, though. So much spirit about to burst open! I definitely am more distracted when I have things to look at, like snow or Christmas lights! DC doesn’t get much snow (sigh), but I live near the zoo and every Christmas they do Zoo lights, so it is fun to run through that! Also–love your Christmas Cookie and Festive Beer idea! My boyfriend is a homebrewer so I find myself being a slight beer nerd these days (well, compared to the days where I would ONLY drink Blue Moon… 🙂 … ) MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Okay, we totally are the same person! Christmas Eve definitely is the best night ever, and Christmas night is pretty sad. And I totally only drink Blue Moon. My husband is really into craft beer and tries to get me to try new things all the time. Have you ever seen the show Brew Dogs? It’s on Esquire and it’s all about these two guys from Scotland who travel the US looking for the best craft brew places and brewing really awesome beers! They came to Philly and brewed beer on a 4th of July parade float 🙂
I’m pretty Christmas obsessed too! 🙂
It’s seriously the best holiday ever! I’m so excited for tonight!
All of those lights are gorgeous!! I haven’t gone out to see any lights yet. Slacking! I plan on drinking lots of beers and eating lots of Christmasy foods tonight 🙂 Can’t wait!
My favorite thing on Christmas eve is driving around looking at Christmas lights. They’re so magical! I’m also planning on eating a ton of food tonight 🙂 A lot of cookies are in my future!
I will have to check out those lights next year! I love Christmas light displays. Those cookies look delicious! I think I have already eaten my weight in cookies since visiting my relatives! Merry Christmas!
I have to stop eating cookies or I’m going to seriously get sick. I actually think I have a cookie hangover from yesterday!