Christmas Break

My twinkle lights are on, I'm snuggled under my cozy blankets, and after a long day of classes and a good workout, I'm ready for bed. But I promised myself I would blog on a more regular basis and  I somehow let a week slip by without any new posts and I really have no more excuses. And so here I am, typing at 11:30 at night, trying to make sense of my jumbled thoughts (I apologize in advance if I ramble too much or don't make much sense). :P

It's funny how quickly I've slipped right back into college life, I only just got back on campus yesterday evening and today was the first full day back and yet everything felt completely normal again. Last August when I moved into college for the first time, I had no idea what to expect. And it surprised me then how fast I eased in to college life. My life here is so vastly different from my life back at home, and I had gotten so used to it that part of me was worried that it would feel weird being home for a month for Christmas Break. But the funny thing is, life at home felt completely normal right away too. I suppose that's a good thing, it just was rather strange if I sat and thought about it, it sort of gave me the feeling that I was living a double life. :) 

Being home for a month was wonderful, it was really, really nice to just be home. Although it was kind of a crazy busy month I still managed to relax and have fun. When my family wasn't sick, we played games, watched old family videos, watched all three Hobbit movies, ate way too much chocolate, and laughed over ridiculous things. 

Our internet wasn't really working until about a week ago, and so I read a lot...I actually wasn't aware of how many books until I counted yesterday and then I decided I had to take a picture, because yes, I somehow managed to read 16 books over the month I was home. I've always enjoyed reading, but I seriously haven't read that many "fun" books at once in a long, long time. :) 

I also decided I had to paint at least once because I made the effort of bringing all my art supplies home and I actually had more time on my hands and so after spending multiple hours trying to figure out what to paint, I started working on this painting. I spent several days last week working on little bits at a time and it's definitely not perfect but I'm happy with how it turned out and it was nice to get the arty side out of my system for awhile until tomorrow when I have my first art class. :) 

I am so grateful for the time I got to spend at home! As much as I love my college, and as easy as it is to slip right back into the routine here, there really is no place quite like home. 

-Mary Kate