The 25 days of Christmas

My mom this year decided to call off Christmas. No, not in the Dickensian way you might immediately be inclined to suspect: she doesn't despise Christmas a la Scrooge. On the contrary, she loves this season. And why wouldn't she? It is, as the song goes, the most wonderful time of the year.

She decided that Christmas this year wasn't for her in the typical way so many families -- ours included -- tend to celebrate it: with lots of gifts, too much food, and over-imbibing. So she stripped away all the excess, and Christmas for our family will this year involve a healthy dinner, church, and relaxing time with loved ones.

Surprisingly, that sounded pretty good to me, and that got me thinking about what I could improve on for the 25 days leading up to Christmas. I know that, every year for at least the past decade, I have joked about the inevitable "Christmas fat": 10 pounds that I have previously resolved to stop combating, knowing it would melt off by summer's arrival.

This year, however, I thought I might play with my tacit acceptance of the Dreaded-10. Rather than make it a Christmas of excess, I have decided to make this one a Christmas of excessive health and gratitude. My plan? Twenty-five days of working out from Dec. 1 to Dec. 25. This will include moderate, healthy eating every day, gratitude for my luxury to do so, and at least 45 minutes of working out each day.

And it won't just be the gym. With so much to do in Calgary over the winter, why stop at the elliptical? There is cross-country skiing and snowshoeing to be done; an adorable little doggy to be walked through countless beautiful places; an incredible boyfriend and amazing friends with whom to try fun and exciting new things. Indeed, this city is a veritable winter wonderland, and I'm going to use my downtime to take advantage of it, as well as protest the typical over-consumption I've come to associate with Christmas.

Stay tuned for my schedule and plan. In the meantime, here's a picture of my Archie and I: