I can't believe how fast last week went. It's already Monday which means before you know it it will be Thursday and then Sunday, which means that Danny leaves for school. I'm completely stressed out that he's leaving so soon. It seems like we should have another 2 weeks left together. It's really finally starting to settle in that he's leaving for 9 months. I'm so use to seeing him 3 or 4 times a week. And i'm use to him staying the night on Saturday and then spending all of Sunday with him. He's coming home the weekend of my birthday so I'll see him at the end of January. I'm not looking forward to the first week he's gone, because I've still got a whole week before i go back to school. At least on the day he leaves I'll have my family to keep me busy. It's the 2nd annual "game day at the looney bin" aka my aunt Lori's house in Warsaw. But the rest of the week i'll have to keep myself busy with play practice and find something else as well.

I'm gonna miss him. Only 6 days : (

Christmas Eve

Every year on Christmas Eve my dad's side of the family gets together at my grandparents house. This means my aunt Reg and my uncle Bob and their 3 kids Todd, Chad and Troy, my aunt Lori and uncle Bill and their son Eric and Bill's mom Fran, my parents and me and Danny, and of course my grandparents. A normal Christmas Eve involves meeting around 2 or 3 and playing games or just enjoying each others company. Then we do our "Christmas program", which usually involves reading the Christmas story from Luke and singing some Christmas songs. Then prayer and eating a wonderful meal. Recently we also started doing Bingo after we eat. After we eat we all draw on the table cloth that has been around at every Christmas. After drawing it's white elephant Bingo then the passing of the gifts. Opening them in this order, Eric, Troy, Me, Chad, Todd (all the "kids" go first opening one gift each time). Then it's the adults turn. Sometimes they go in order of youngest to oldest and others they just go in a line of who's sitting where. Then after gifts we sit for a while, then Reg and Bob leave to go to church and not long after we all leave as well.

That's a normal Christmas Eve in the Wise-Huff family. This year was different however. Most of us met at 3. Those of us that were there played a very quick game of pictionary until the Huff's arrived. Then Fran came and it was time to eat. We had the traditional Christmas Eve punch (my favorite punch ever made!) and drew on the table cloth as normal. But normally we do our "Christmas program" before we eat, well this year it was afterward. We went into the Living Room and Lori, Bill and Eric started the program. We sang and listened to the readings. Then we did something a little different.

In the center of the window sill were a big red candle and a bunch of little white tea light candles. Lori said they this was a time to reflect on memories and the past years. It started with Grandma and went from there. We laughed and we cried. We reminisced about past Christmas's and good times with family. And every time a memory was shared a tea light would be lit. It made me realize just how special my family truly is. I don't know of a closer more tightly knit family than ours. When I can say that my cousins are like my younger and older brothers that's amazing to me. I love my family so much they mean the world to me. And being able to look back and hear stories of Christmas's long ago and just fun times before was just an stupendous thing to do. After our look back we sang Joy to the World, Jingle Bells, The 12 days of Catmas, and last but not least We wish you a Merry Christmas. After this we took the annual "kids" Christmas picture. Then gifts.

Christmas Eve is such a special time in my family and I would not trade it for anything. On Christmas Day, each family does its own thing in the morning. Then in late afternoon we all gather at the Huff farm in Bremen for soup, treats and TONS of games.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!!

Finals Week

Finals week is one of the most stressful weeks any college student will face. For me i always dread finals. It means a sold 2 weeks at least of studying previously learned concepts and facts. My finals schedule was as follows: Monday-Spanish. Tuesday-Astronomy. Wednesday-supposedly nothing. Thursday-Geography on-line final. And finally Friday-Environmental Science. But that wasn't at all how it went.

Monday-Spanish final. Didn't happen. There was not enough snow that we couldn't get to school. Yet my teacher didn't show up. I spent all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday study for this final only to have it held off until Wednesday. One up side another 2 days to study. Down side it wasn't over!

Tuesday-Astronomy final. I spent all of Tuesday morning studying for this final. I'm not a big fan of the whole math thing. So when i got into the class and found out it was all physics i was completely bummed. Our professor made it clear at the beginning of the semester that if we didn't pass the lab portion of the class we would fail the class. I did exceptionally well on every single quiz and test, getting A's and B's on all. I wish i could say the same for the lab portion. I got D's and F's on quite a few of the labs..meaning unfortunately i failed the class. : ( No matter how well i did on the final (which i got a 185 out of 200 on) i still failed the class.

Wednesday-Spanish final day 2. We actually took the final on Wednesday, which i figured i would completely bomb because i could never conjugate the verbs. But i actually did really well and got a 70 out of 80 on it. Spanish grade...B.

Thursday-Geography. What can i say..even with the book in front of me i still completely tanked on this test getting a spectacular 51 out of 100.

Friday-Environmental Science final. This final is yet to be determined. Because of the ice/snow storm we are supposed to get i do not know what the out come of driving ability will be tomorrow morning.

As for finals week...i am ready to say bon voyage! At least until May of next year. I am ready for Christmas break..to spend time with my family. I am more than ready to spend as much time as possible with Danny over the next few weeks, as these are my last few weeks with him before he goes to Pennsylvania for 9 months. So say good-bye to finals and school for a while and spend some time with your family and loved ones.