It’s that time of year again, Holiday Break! This is a time of rest and family bonding after a long two weeks of finals. What are my favorite parts of the holidays? I’m so glad you asked.

1. Christmas Lights. This might be the best part of Christmas. Every year we drive through the neighborhood and look at all of the lights! We have one neighbor who goes crazy with lights, and every Christmas since I was 6 I can remember that house lighting up our entire street. Hell, you can probably see it on Google Earth because it’s like the movie ‘Deck the Halls’ on steroids.

2. Christmas Carols. Christmas music is so cheerful and happy, and you can’t listen to it without smiling.

3. A Break from School. I love Wake Forest, but there are a lot of stressors in college, and sometimes it's nice to escape and just hit pause on everything there.

4. Christmas Shopping. I’m a nut for Christmas shopping. I love the store decorations, the clerks in Santa Hats, and all of the fun things that pop up in the mall at Christmas. It helps that I love shopping in general, but I really enjoy picking out the perfect gifts for my loved ones!

5. Wrapping Gifts. I think I might have been an elf in a former life because I LOVE wrapping gifts. I love adding little decorations to make each package unique, and imagining the person’s face when they open it!

6. The Angel Tree. Every year my family, either through my dad’s office or through our church, “adopts” a child for the angel tree, and goes Christmas shopping for them! This is one of my favorite traditions because it brings so much happiness to my heart to be able to get them something they really want, so they can have a joyous Christmas!

7. Family. Over the years, we always celebrated with our extended family whether it was just my grandparents joining us, or meeting up with the cousins and aunts and uncles too! I love getting to spend time with my family, so this is always a special time!

8. Friends. The holidays are one of the only times I get to see all of my Jacksonville friends. I miss these nugs all year, so I love getting to catch up with my hometown homies.

9. Baking. Well trying to, anyways. Every year I try to find some sort of Christmas cookie or dessert and re-create it. And every year my baking skills fail me, but A for effort, right?

10. ABC’s 25 Days of Christmas. I know everyone’s favorite movie is Elf, and it’s a classic no doubt, and the Home Alone Saga is always a gem, but my all time favorite Christmas movie—yes, you’re going to judge me, but I don’t care—is Christmas with the Kranks. I can watch that movie 10,000 times, and I might have done so to be honest, but I laugh so hard every time… I can’t get enough of it!

11. Christmas Dinner. We usually eat the same thing as Thanksgiving on Christmas Day, and that food is my absolute favorite. Bring on the stuffing!

12. Harry Potter Marathons. I don’t know why they pick Christmas for the time to play these marathons. Maybe it’s because the holidays are somewhat of a magical time, and Harry Potter is the definition of magic. I have so many fond memories of sitting down with my dad and just powering through all of them in one weekend. Harry Potter is the bomb.com.

13. Candle light Christmas Eve Service. There’s something so special about a candle lit service, and on Christmas Eve it’s perfection.

14. The Christmas Tree. I absolutely love sitting by the Christmas tree wrapped up in holiday blankets and rocking my festive fuzzy socks. The lights glowing and reflecting off of all of our ornaments are so soothing and fun to admire. That is my happy place, and during December, that’s where you can find me.

15. Luminaries. In our neighborhood, everyone puts out luminaries the week before Christmas. It’s supposed to be symbolic in lighting the way for Christ on Christmas Eve, but it’s also just a really pretty tradition, and lights the neighborhood up.

16.The Nutcracker. I try not to hold it against them for crushing the dreams of 10-year-old me… I didn’t want to be a mouse anyways. My personal saltiness aside, I love the Nutcracker ballet. The story of Clara and the beautiful dancers make for a fabulous show to watch.

17. Time. During school, it seems like as soon as one assignment is finished, another project is assigned, etc. Over the holidays, it’s nice to have time to relax, and work on stuff that you don’t have time to do during the school year.

18. The Night Before Christmas. I have read “The Night Before Christmas” every Christmas Eve as far back as I can remember. This may seem like a silly tradition these days, but it reminds me of the nights when I was a kid eagerly waiting for Santa (which let’s be real… I still do) and brings back a lot of dear memories.

19. The Nativity Story. You didn’t think I’d forget about Jesus did you? After all, I highly respect my fellow December birthdays. I really enjoy the Nativity story because first of all, that’s the reason for the season let us not forget, and second of all, it’s a pretty incredible story if you really think about it. It reminds us that even the most powerful beings have humble beginnings and we should never put ourselves above others.

20. Kindness. I don’t know if there’s something in the air at this time of year, but people are kinder than during other seasons. There’s something about the holidays that makes us love one another just a little more than usual, and give a little more of ourselves to make the world a happy place, and I think that’s pretty neat.