I did go to the wedding on Saturday and I shocked my parishioners by dressing up quite a bit. (The comment “Jen… you clean up well!” was uttered frequently. Apparently, me in a dress on Sunday doesn’t even compare?) I wore the dress my sister-in-law gave me for my birthday and I think I’ve found my Christmas dress for this year. (My ordination dress still fits but is loose enough to show my love handles which still need to be melted off.) I skipped the reception (wasn’t going to be able to eat the food and didn’t need the calories) and chilled at home.

I decided to skip the early service on Sunday and hitched a ride to church with some fellow church members. It was nice to be able to attend Sunday school and relax instead of having to be uber-social. After church, I came home, ate lunch, and took a nap until I had to get dressed again to go to an open house for a parishioner (who was turning 80) and then to Church #1 to decorate the church and go caroling afterwards.

Caroling was awesome! There were 10 of us and Jon and I were basically the youngest by far. (Everyone else had kids or grandkids our age.) Jon and a couple of the others sang a Christmas carol in Norwegian as well as one verse of Silent Night pa Norsk. We also sang a verse of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” as well as “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”. We went around and sang to some people in the church who were elderly and needed encouragement. One woman started crying and told us it was the best thing that had happened to them that year. After we’d sufficiently sung and frozen our butts off, we headed to someone’s farm for a potluck dinner. I ate waaaaaaaay too much and of course (as this is Minnesota), the food was NOT low-cal, low-fat, or low-carb.

Today, we did errands in Watertown and here in town. Tonight, I let Billy Blanks kick my butt for half an hour while Jon was at a Scout meeting. I just showered (and was pounced on by my gremlin who gets ferocious at the smell of my shower gel) and have that “beaten to a pulp but have an amazing high” feeling. I’m thinking I should be doing a whole lot more taebo or I should find some really good yoga tapes or something…