'Tis the season to indulge

And my crazy December really kicks in. The first week was relatively calm.
Today Curt and I are hosting a little gathering with a few friends called Cheesemas. We eat cheese and watch cheesy holiday movies. The first movie stars Rob Lowe called The Christmas Shoes. We ALWAYS watch it. The commentary is what makes our gathering a little raunchy. You have to have a wicked sense of humor to stomach most of it.
Anyway, there is a lot of cheese eating and drinking and a good time.
Then next week the challenges really kick into full swing with two work dinners, a work White Elephant lunch and a cocktail party over the weekend.
Monday night is our team holiday dinner. It will be at a nice restaurant with good food and wine. And that also means I will miss my regular gym class. I initially decided it would be OK for me to miss the gym as long as I make it to the gym 3-4 times this coming week I will meet the December Monthly Challenge.
But then I realized that there was no reason I couldn’t exercise at the gym on site. I haven’t decided if I will workout first thing when I arrive at work or wait until the end of the day when I can then freshen up for the dinner after my workout.
Tuesday during the day we are having our Ugly Christmas Sweater/White Elephant lunch, where I plan to win the sweater contest. (I can’t tell you right now if my White Elephant gift is awesome or crap. But if you know me even a little you should know which way I lean.)
Believe it or not, but there is no Wikipedia entry for Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. That’s crazy! OK, if you have no idea what that is this link will give you a general idea.
Thursday night is more of a social work outing. But I will also miss my regular gym or yoga class that night. And again initially I thought, well, it is OK to skip as long as I make it to the gym/yoga studio all the other days. But realization set in that I will likely be pigging out most of the week and that extra exercise will come in handy as the added calories will be consumed throughout the week. But it is OK to skip one day. So that might be the day to skip. Really depends on how my work day goes …
Next Saturday our friends will be hosting their annual Cocktail Competition Party. I have won the past two years in a row (winner in 2010 and co-winner in 2011). If I just have a sip or two of each cocktail submitted to the competition I am not having too many calories or getting too liquored up. I also plan on winning for a third year in a row. It’s all about presentation for me. (I will post what I am making and my awesome presentation later. Don’t want to give anything away.)
The following week is my last week of work for the year. I am only in the office for three days and then out until January 3. Curt and I will be driving to Tucson for Christmas. We will spend a few days there hanging with family (which means a lot of drinking and eating a lot of Mexican food).
After that we head to San Diego for some relaxation and fun with friends, which will also mean a lot of drinking, eating, eating fish tacos and possibly getting a tattoo. (Curt’s favorite fish taco place in Ocean Beach is downstairs and the tattoo parlor is upstairs.)
I have been really concentrating on getting back to my goal weight. And last week I did. This week I am still right at it. I don’t want to gain a ton of weight while having fun. But I still want to have fun.
I plan to exercise while I am out of town. Just because I plan it doesn’t mean it always happens … But I would love to keep my weight down and reasonable, especially since that is part of the December Monthly Challenge.
As my month gets more and more hectic the posts will likely get to be fewer and fewer. But I will do my best to keep things going. So keep coming back. And if you are taking on the December Monthly Challenge, please make sure to let me know how things are going.