I am sitting at home now, not in the dorm. A good change of scenery. It is winter break. The year is almost over. Finals are over. Another semester of college is over. I did pretty well in all my classes, which I’m happy about. I got my dorm unpacked for the break and took home all the papers and notebooks I won’t use much anymore. I don’t go back to school until the beginning of January, and all the stuff in my room is set for when I get back. I have about a month off from school. I’m happy about that too. I have time to relax, time to read some books and write. Time to have fun. And I’ve already made great progress on that.

I went to an ASU hockey game on the ninth of December with my uncle and cousin when they were in town. They follow hockey much closer than I do. That game was a lot of fun. I had never been to a hockey game before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The game went by fast. It was a little bit cold in the arena, but I had a sweatshirt on, so I really didn’t freeze. I got free pizza, too. It was not too crowded in the student section, but there were lots of people in the arena. Hopefully they were warmer than I was. I had two sweatshirts on and I was still cold, which is not usually a pleasant way to watch anything. But at least it makes sense for hockey.

I set up the Nativity scene in the hallway at my parents house. That’s one of my decorating tasks every year. Some fabric cloth to imitate snow. The wooden manger. The glass characters and livestock. The whole table turns into Bethlehem for a few weeks.

I made some homemade Chex Mix earlier this morning. Just followed the recipe on the box and doubled the batch. I used a generous amount of Worcestershire sauce, but that’s where lots of the good flavor comes from. That will be a good snack for a while, unless I just eat it all.

I drank some hot chocolate this afternoon. My mom uses the same boiling water to make tea, and I had some chocolate powder in my dorm, but I never actually made any before I left. That will be a great way to start the new semester: a big mug of hot cocoa to keep me warm.

So that’s how my week has gone. Nothing too eventful so far. But the break has just started. And Christmas is only getting closer.