My Christmas Workout

Christmas gives me so many things I need. And I'm not talking about gifts.

Think about the obstacle course at the mall. Walking as quickly as you can while dodging multitudes of shoppers is great for the glutes. Bonus points for juggling multiple packages at the same time. Be ready to practice a little meditation for stress relief while waiting in a seemingly endless check out line. Note: the meditation idea is also helpful after you've lost the last parking spot (the one for which you've been patiently waiting while a little old lady takes 5 minutes to back out) when a car load of teenagers cuts in ahead of you.

Back at home, I unload the car. That usually takes at least 3 trips. The packages get stuffed in my closet. I'll wrap them another day, because now it's time to drag countless boxes up from the basement. By my calculation, I climb up and down the stairs at least 147 times. And at 20 pounds per box, my biceps quickly feel the burn.

But it doesn't end there. Now that the tree is put together and decorated, the official Kitty War has begun. Bogey loves to de-decorate the bottom of the tree. That means I get a daily dose of crawling around on the floor to retrieve ornaments that he's strewn across the room. Not to worry, though. I can always throw in a few leg lifts as long as I'm down there anyway.

I ask you, who needs a gym membership when you have Christmas? And thank goodness, too. I've got to find some way to justify the extra 3,000 calories per day I'm consuming.