It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

November 22:

The week before Thanksgiving break our Eden Troupe put on the play "It's a Wonderful Life: The Musical."  Sara and I bought tickets to the final Saturday performance.  The whole cast did an amazing job and the singing was phenomenal!!!

December 3: 

The Christmas Ball came on the last day of classes.  Sara and I went out to eat and dance with a small group of friends.  We went to a local BBQ for dinner.  The dance was held at a local roller skating ring.  We had a wonderful evening dancing and chatting with friends.  After the dance was over, Sara and I watched two Harry Potter movies until about 3 a.m.  The whole evening was awesome!! :)  

December 4:

Thursday afternoon Sara and I went for a drive and spent the afternoon at Starbucks.  We were able to snatch two of the big comfy leather chairs by the fireplace.  There couldn't have been a more perfect place to study.  That evening I attended a Christmas party with a group of new friends.  Thanks to a local family we were able to have full use of their house for the evening.  We played Dutch Blitz, Telepictionary, had hot chocolate, baked cookies and sang Christmas carols.  The joys of the Christmas season.  :)

December 6:

On Saturday our choir and orchestra put on their annual Christmas concert, Lessons and Carols.  The evening began with a reading from Genesis and ended in Luke with the Savior's birth.  After each reading, the choir would sing a couple songs and then orchestra would play a solo.  The evening ended with a candlelight singing of Silent Night.  The chorale did a fabulous job!!  I was extremely proud of our school.     

December 8:

Monday was the first day of finals!  I began the day with a Western Civilization multiple choice.  After a quick break, I began work on my blue book essay.  I wrote about the Renaissance.  Even though I started my essay at 11 a.m., I did not finish until 2:15!! It took me over 3 hours!  I filled an entire blue book.  I stopped for a quick lunch only to realize that my Logic final started at 2:15!  I had previously thought that it started at 2:30.   Yikes!  Thankfully I was allotted a few extra minutes to finish my exam since I had just finished another.  When my Logic exam was over I took a nap.  I didn't get to take a long nap because we had another final and short essay at 6 p.m.  Even though Monday was an extremely long day, Sara and I finished the day by watching Harry Potter. :)

December 10: 

If I thought Monday was crazy, I should have waited until Tuesday/Wednesday.  I spent Tuesday night studying 7 potential U.S. History essay outlines and 5 lectures until midnight.  Then I spent the next hour packing.  At 1 a.m., I was super exhausted and took a nap for a hour.  Before leaving for break, each dorm has to clean their common spaces.  Sara and I were assigned to take down our dorm's Christmas decorations.  At 2 a.m., Sara and I deconstructed the trees and took them to the attic.  Afterwards, we spent more time packing and cleaning our room.  By 4:45 a.m, Sara and I called it quits and went to bed.  Our plan was to sleep for 2 hours and then study some more.  Unfortunately, Sara did not hear her alarm.  By the time we awoke it was 10:30!!!  What a hectic awakening.  I had to be at the airport at 6 p.m., so our day was super tight.  Beginning at 11 a.m., I spent 2 hours writing my U.S. History essay.  Then Sara and I spent the next 2 1/2 hours cleaning.  Before leaving for break, our room had to pass White Glove.  Everything from ceiling to the baseboards had to be perfect.  Our checkout time was 3 p.m. and we had to be out by then.  Unfortunately, we did not check out on time and missed the grace period by a few minutes and incurred a small late fine.  Once White Glove was passed we rushed to finish our exams.  Sara only had an hour and a half to write about the Reformation.  I only had 90 minutes to take 2 multiple choice exams.  :o  Despite my extreme time crunch I finished both exams with plenty of confidence.  Sara and I left school skipping, singing and dancing as we rushed to the airport.  

It's the most wonderful time of the year.  No more finals, essays or papers!  It's the most wonderful time.  It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!!!   

   

A New Adventure:

Over the last couple of weeks, there have been several new adventures. Our first adventure we happened upon occurred on Thursday, November 20th.  Sara and I decided to attend a concert at the Kennedy Center.  We went to hear Stravinsky's Suit from The Firebird and Busoni's Piano Concerto, Op. 39.  It was wonderful to get all dressed up.  Sara and I met up with one of her friends and from there we walked to the Kennedy Center after stopping for a quick bite to eat.  Since it was only 2 miles from where we parked, it made sense to walk.  Our seats were in the balcony.  The concert was simply beautiful.  After the concert was over around 9 p.m., we decided to return on a different way.  Previously we had taken the longer route to the concert.  At first we appeared to be going the right way, but then we decided to double check our GPS.  Unfortunately, it said that we were going the wrong way.  Even though we corrected our steps it, throughout the evening it never got us on the right path.  Instead of taking us 20-30 minutes to arrive at our car, it took us an hour and twenty minutes.  We got lost.  :(  While Sara had brought flats to wear for the walk back home, I only had small, pencil heels.  Heels are generally not that bad except when you are walking on unfrozen November grass.  It was cold, in the mid 40s.  Once we reached the car I had trekked approximately 4 miles over 2 hours!!  Despite our mini-adventure Sara and I had a blast!  Adventures make memories!  

(I have several more stories to tell, but will get to those after finals. :( )