End of the Semester

Well, we have just about finished out the school fall semester of 2008. Mandy and Seth are in the midst of finals, as they had yesterday and then today and tomorrow. They've been studying hard the past few days, and we're hoping they'll do well. Mom and I have been waiting for our grades. She has gotten hers, and they are A's, as expected. However, my teachers must be slacking on turning in final grades because I only have 1 and a 1/2. Spanish is a 97, and I have my chemistry half of science, which was over a hundred, but mind you that is only one half. I'm guessing that I have all A's, but I don't want to make premature assumptions, so I sit here, impatiently waiting for my grades to be posted.

I finished my finals on Tuesday when I took the music final, which covered American music. It was not that hard, and I'm expecting an A on the test. After my final, Mom picked me up and we drove to the Johnson house for Geneva's Christmas party, although one of the youth group members also attended. We played some fun games together. First, we had to play Carol Pictionary (I probably misspelled that), where we had to draw something that represented a Christmas carol and our team had to guess what it was. One of the carols, King We- something, was drawn by Mr. Price but my team had no clue to what it was, but the other team was "oh, I know what that is. Haha." After that, we played a bow game and then played a hilarious game. We had eleven players, so everyone got eleven pieces of paper and a pen. The game is sort of like "Telephone," but you have to draw and write it. For example, Mom wrote "your mom" on the paper (it's a common term around Geneva and the youth group), and she passed the paper to Mandy, who drew a picture of a mom and then passed it to another person who guessed what the drawing was. However, people's interpretations vary, so the drawings can become hilariously skewed. Mom's started off as "your mom" and ended up with monsters playing football. Mine was "The Hobbit" and ended up as the quote "argh! How are we going to get out of here?" with a picture of a two men standing on a beach. There were several other hilarious ones that made us roll on the floor with laughter. We enjoyed the game a lot, and we're thinking of playing it at one of the family Christmas parties. The second part of the party was the White Elephant gift exchange with some hilarious gifts, including rapper grills, a whopee cushion, Hannah Montana Lip gloss, and an oven mitt. After the gift exchange, we went home. I sadly did not have my camera that day, so I have no pictures of the event.

So I've been out of school for a few days. I've spent most of my time working on my novel (I am roughly halfway through the second draft), though I have also cleaned like crazy. The kitchen has often looked like a disaster, but I, the kitchen master, have conquered it twice in two days. Not to mention the laundry that is going right now. I feel proud of myself, but I need to find some books to read over the break. I've been making slow progress on the book of Southern Secession, but I'm getting interested in finding more of Stephen Lawhead's historical fantasy books. Also, for about half the week, I've been getting more serious research done when I discovered the ugly truth behind Celtic Woman and its corrupt management practices. I did not do this research myself; I discovered a detailed blogpost written by someone else, and I contacted him a few times via e-mail, asking him questions and receiving detailed answers. It's not pretty, and I'm glad I'm not in the music industry. That aside, my break has been going well, and I'm hoping to be productive over it.

Despite the fact that Mom's been out of school for a week, she's been extremely busy. She's had finals to type up for her students, and yesterday she baked things for Dad to take to a party at work. Tomorrow, she will give her finals to the Geneva students, and then she will be free for a couple weeks before she heads back to the grind.

The weather has been unseasonally warm around here. On Tuesday it was foggy yet somewhat warm. Yesterday, it felt like it was in the 70's. Sort of strange, especially when it's freezing all over the rest of the country. Oh, well. I'll savor it while it lasts and before the bitter cold returns to haunt us.

Oh, I nearly forgot! For some years, we have not gotten a Christmas tree because of a lack of room in the house. However, this year, Mom and Mandy decided that they wanted to get a tree, and Mom suggested moving one of the lamps and putting a tree there instead. So, on Monday, Mom and Mandy brought home a medium-sized tree. We decorated it, and it looks nice. Mandy's had fun with the new Christmas lights that can blink, fade, or look like disco lights. It's nice to have a tree, and we've forgotten how good a real Christmas tree smells. I'll be sure to post a picture or two of the tree.

Times are about to get slightly busy again. This Saturday we're going to Grandpa Mike's house for an early Christmas celebration, and there is sure to be a large spread of food and plenty of talking and family fellowship. Then next Wednesday, we're going to Uncle Jason and Aunt Nancy's house for our Christmas Eve celebration. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures and share them with you all. :D