Hello December

For me, December is always synonymous with Christmas. The holidays. The rush of excitement that comes from finding the perfect gift. How cozy I feel when I bundle up in my coat, scarf, gloves, and Uggs.

Lights? Check!
Where to put them? Uh...

So whenever December officially arrives, I always get really excited.

I mean, extra excited. I put up my tree weeks ago. Before Thanksgiving. And I'm not ashamed. I have my wreath hanging, my candles dispersed, my lights—okay, well they aren't hung yet. But it's my first holiday season at my new apartment, and I'm not quite sure where to put them yet. I discovered there's no outlet on my balcony. So I don't know. We'll see. I need to at least get some garland. But you get the idea.

Cold weather just makes me feel very warm, safe, and cozy. Even when it gives me a runny nose. Although frankly, I blame that on the bipolar weather here in College Station. Example—Right now it is 59º according to my phone. With a high of 65º. However, Saturday the forecasted high is...79º.

Yes. Almost 80º. It kind of makes me sick. I'm wondering how this city didn't get the memo about it being officially December! It's seriously conflicting with my cold-weather fantasies.

But I'll live. I'll just turn my AC back on and pretend. I have a very good imagination.

In other news, finals are fast approaching. Monday is the last day I'll actually have normal class, then the week after...finals.

I have mixed feelings about this semester coming to a close. On the one hand, I have spent a lot of time stressing and complaining about the classes and workload I've had going on these past few months. I'm burnt out on writing papers, reading—especially reading theories that I completely disagree with. I've had several classes where I can do nothing but sit back and keep my mouth shut, try not to roll my eyes, because really...disagreeing isn't worth running the risk of making an enemy out of the person who's ultimately deciding my grade for the class. It's kind of annoying. But then, on the other hand, if all goes as planned, next semester will be my last semester. Then I'll graduate. And while I can't wait, and am super excited to graduate, I'm also starting to realize that I really do enjoy college. For all of the complaining, I enjoy classes. I even enjoy going to classes. And taking page after page of predominately useless notes. I'm not sure that I'm ready for life after college—but I'm also not sure that I'll be pursuing grad school. At least not right away.

So there's that. A conglomeration of mixed feelings about the end of this semester, plus excitement about Christmas and all that it entails. Like a break from school, seeing friends from out of state—I'm lookin' at you, Matt—holiday shopping, hot chocolate, and Christmas lights.

I can't say for sure, but I have a feeling that this holiday season is going to be awesome.

I spent way too much time making this stupid flow chart. I apparently am not good at making them. But here is a really poorly portrayed layout of what I spend my December doing. And/or thinking about.

Fig. 1.1—Crappy Little December Flowchart