The Smiling Runner (A Mama Kat Writing Prompt)

This week, random.org handed me Mama Kat prompt number one: Have you decorated your Christmas tree? Share a favorite Christmas ornament.

Have I decorated my Christmas tree? That would involve having laundry mountain cleared from the Christmas tree's spot, and having the tree down from the attic. Not yet. I wish.

Share a favorite Christmas ornament. Did I mention that the box of ornaments is in the attic along with the tree?

I do have a new candidate that will factor among my favorites, however. It just arrived in the mail from my friend Audrey.

As luck would have it, Audrey and I were on Facebook simultaneously about a week ago when she messaged me and asked if I had received my birthday present. I said no, because no packages had been in the mail that my son had retrieved on his way in from school. It then occurred to me that a larger (than the mailbox) package would have been left at the front door. I checked the front door, discovered a package there (!) and Audrey and I had a mini virtual gift opening right there on Facebook. Not the same as being together physically, but still fun in a 21st century kind of way.

Here's the ornament that she had made for me:

The ornament is even personalized:

And ask me how much I love that happy look on the face! A friend recently mentioned how common it is to see runners' faces all scrunched up and tense looking, portraying a tension that transmits itself through their entire bodies. I thought about the ornament and my friend's comment all last night at Interval Training, which of all the running events in a typical week  makes me want to grimace the most.

Audrey told me that she chose this gift for me to represent my commitment to running and making it a priority in my life, helping her feel more inclined to commit herself to exercising more.

Even without an ornament, Audrey's comments would have been gift enough.

They (and the ornament) really put a smile on my face!