Christmas has exploded. It has taken over our room. Christmas is draped all over the ceiling in 50 feet of red & green paper chains, on top of the refrigerator in our poinsettia plant, decking the walls in strings of bright & colorful lights, and filling up the corner in our REAL Christmas tree. Yup! Standing at about four feet tall, draped in lights and dripping with glittering ornaments, smelling like childhood excitement and fresh pine is OUR TREE! Christmas comes but once each year, and because my last two finals fall on December 22nd, I do not get to enjoy many of the pre-Christmas festivities that usually happen at my house. To brighten our moods, my roommates and I decided to go all out, pulling out all the stops for Christmastime in our dorm room.
This week was pure chaos. When I wasn't adding to the Christmas decor that was filling up our room, I was constantly moving about, studying, or at some meeting or other. Monday was full of practicing my persuasive speech for my public speaking class. Because I had just gotten back the night before from spending five days with family for Thanksgiving, needless to say, I had a LOT of work left to do on it. Ten pounds were lifted off my shoulders after I presented it (nearly) flawlessly (I hope!) to my class. I then got to study study STUDY for my Christianity test on Tuesday. I took a brief break and attended my weekly Intervarsity community group bible study, where we are continuing our series on prayer. I absolutely LOVE community group. It is a wonderful gathering of people. I always feel much better after I go, relieved of stress. Tuesday took the stress of my test off my shoulders. I went into my professor's office before the test, and he really helped me out with learning about the terms that I had questions on. It is also really interesting to just talk to my professors and hear about their lives and what they did before they decided to teach. Wednesday was the large group meeting for RHA, and we began to brainstorm a ton of really fun events to put on for our dorm including the upcoming door decorating contest. Already I am watching the competition build! On Thursday, I went to the bookstore's Christmas sale. I got to munch on cookies while I picked up USD sweatshirts at 25% off for Christmas presents. That night I went to Intervarsity's large group meeting, where there were prayer stations set up all over the room. I chose the drawing one, and just relaxed to amazing worship music as I lost myself in drawing my feeling out onto paper while practicing a different form of prayer than I am used to. I came back to my room and watched the best Christmas movie of all time, Elf! On Friday, I went to the Mecha Club's Salsa Night with a few of my friends. It was so fun! I tried to learn how to salsa with my two left feet and discovered just how fun trying things you NEVER EVER thought you would do can be! We ended the night by replaying Elf while making more Christmas crafts. (Catching onto the theme here?) I hung many 3D snowflakes from the ceiling. Saturday was a much needed day of rest. After coming back from brunch at eleven, I continued to spend the rest of the day holed up in my room in cozy sweats (yes, it can get chilly here at times!). I did some homework, took some high quality naps, and watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall with one of my roommates before we were finally dragged from out our cave at seven pm to get some Chipotle! MMMMMMM there is nothing that compares to a delicious burrito bowl with some guac! I finished off the night with some Fro Yo and cosmic bowling before finally getting back into bed for much needed sleep.
Now, Sunday deserves a paragraph of its own! I woke up early this morning to take a run in Tecolote Canyon, which is right below campus. The fresh, slightly chilled air felt amazing in my lungs and refreshed me inside and out. After that, my roommates Sarah, Emily and I headed to Sarah's aunt's house for a day filled with Christmas baking! We turned up the Christmas mix and sang along as we baked and baked and baked for about five straight hours! The products of this sugar-love fest include: holly crispy treats, toffee, Funfetti cupcakes, brownies, and sugar cookies. I even got to make a spaghetti dinner! I absolutely LOVE the kitchen. Cooking and baking are definitely my forte. It was very nice to spend some time in a house with a family. I miss mine so much after being away from them for a while. College really makes you realize how much you really do love your family, friends, and being home. It makes finally being able to GO home that much better. Two weeks and two days til WINTER BREAK! Until then, time to get studying for those finals! AH!
