Somewhere in the the evolution of Christmas, “Christ” was replaced with sweaters. I suppose it’s good in theory, since sweaters keep you warm in the winter. But there are two flaw with that theory. 1. It’s not cold in Texas. We don’t get snow. and 2. You don’t need a sweater in Hell, which is where Christians believe non-Christians go after death.
Wow. That got morbid fast…
Anywho, the Golden Triangle Strutters running club has jumped on the tacky sweater bandwagon, using it as a theme for one of their social runs (similar to the Halloween run where we all dressed in costume). Participants come to a local restaurant/bar donning their best holiday sweater, run or walk a quick mile, then drink beer and eat burgers. Oh, and there’s a Secret Santa Gift Exchange too.
The Tacky Sweaters
Jonathan and I had, of course, planned on attending. I designed our sweaters. I picked up some second hand sweaters from our local Goodwill for only $3.99 each (I also found 2 running shirts from last year’s Turkey Trot and Gusher Marathon). Jonathan, being raised Messianic Jew, naturally had a menorah. I used a large piece of sturdy felt and traced our family menorah in pencil, then cut it out. I used some embroidery thread to add some details, and glittery puffs to represent the lights, then hot glued the whole piece to the sweater. J wanted to add some Hebrew letters as well, so he cut out the symbols from a dreidel. I had found a felt Christmas tree at the Dollar Tree (how fitting), and decorated that with a little chain of jiggle bells. Charlotte-Ann, naturally, is our gift. So I used fabric washi tape on a plain white onsie, and stuck a few wrapping bows on her hat. We may not have won any prizes, but I think we were the most thought out theme.
The Gift Exchange
For our Secret Santa gifts, we went in different directions. I have been looking for a neat way to present our running bibs and finisher medals, and had decided that I want to build a shelf of sorts that displays them. My first thought was to make one of these amazing dreamt up items for my secret recipient. But as I planned out the items and work to be done I realized that two weeks would not be enough time to make a prototype.
So instead, I found an 8×8 scrapbook at Hobby Lobby. Most bibs are 6×8 or 7×8, so I knew they would fit. After stalking looking at her Facebook, I saw that she is an advocate for Alzheimer’s Disease. So I hand-lettered Remember what you are RUNNING for… on the cover in metallic marker, and used purple scrapbooking paper to embellish the inside cover.
Jonathan had originally planned on filling a water bottle with running necessities, such as Gu, Nuun, and Energy Beans. But then he wanted to give her a coffee mug. And then he decided he should give her coffee in the coffee mug. Then we found coffee flavored chocolate sticks. And then as we were leaving we found a cute little tea man that sits in your coffee cup and steeps your tea. I think he actually bought himself a gift…
Jonathan received some awesome items- a Yeti mug (only the best brand of drinkware. It keeps drinks hot or cold for hours), some Gu, and a cake from Nothing Bunt Cakes. (yum). I got a basket filled with chocolate items. I may not be a big fan of chocolate, but I enjoyed the white mocha drink and the caramel filled squares. There’s some popcorn in there I may dive into in the next few days as well. Overall I think a chocolate basket is a very safe bet for a woman you don’t know very well.
