Hello all! It's been almost two weeks now that I've been home for Christmas break. I've been pretty busy, but not too overwhelmed and have had plenty of time to relax as well.

I've been to two of my sister (Rachel)'s basketball games so far (lost one, won one) and went to a concert in Philadelphia with her last week. We got to see Bon Iver, which was incredible. I tried to take pictures with my phone, though naturally they didn't turn out too well. It's been good to spend time with Rachel and my parents over break.

Last Thursday, two friends from Lancaster, Micah and Josh, drove here and we and another friend, Lauren, took the train down to Philadelphia for the day, which was a lot of fun. The boys even bought a life-size Rocky cut-out on a whim. Afterwards, we went to the Christopher Dock Christmas concert, which Rachel sang in, and then "chilled" in our hot tub for a while.

My birthday was on Wednesday, and my family always has certain traditions, to make sure my day isn't overshadowed too much by Christmas. We went out for breakfast with family friends, and then came home and I opened presents. Then we played some games and went to lunch at the Sultan, an Indian restaurant. After that, we spent a few hours roaming Barnes and Noble before returning for the Christmas eve service at church. I always enjoy having special Christmas traditions with my family. :)

I hope all of you had a spectacular Christmas and enjoy the rest of your break from school!

This semester has seemed to go by very quickly! It is hard to believe we are already taking finals and packing up to leave this weekend. I am not too stressed out at this point, though. I have three more finals and one more test, but I feel sufficiently prepared and a few more hours of studying should be good. I'm glad that all of my papers are finally completed! I finally got my grades back for all of the papers I handed in a few weeks ago, and I was very pleased with how I did on so little sleep!

Thanksgiving provided a much-needed break, though. I had finished all but two shorter papers, so I didn't have to work too hard over break. I went to Bluffton, OH, for Thanksgiving with three other friends to one of their houses, because the rest of us live in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Oregon, and couldn't go home. It was a really fun, relaxing time to eat a lot of good home-made food, go on energizing walks, have good conversations, and generally relax around the house. We also observed some interesting Bluffton traditions, like the Blazing of the Lights on Saturday night, which is a parade through town and afterward all the lights downtown are turned on and everyone goes home to turn on their own Christmas lights. It's a time when pretty much everyone goes downtown to celebrate the beginning of the holiday season. Not having grown up in a "small town," it was cool to experience one for at least a few days!

Last weekend all of the musical groups at GC participated in "A Festival of Carols," an annual Christmas concert with traditional carols interspersed with numbers from the various choirs and orchestra. It is always a lot of fun, but makes for a busy last weekend, as we had three performances (all of which were sold out)!

Enjoy the pictures, and have a wonderful Christmas season!