I love Christmas

Despite the fact that it has been forever since I have written here, I would like to express my absolute love of Christmas, as well as being home. I know a lot of people loose interest in the "holiday season" as they grow older, but I have come to enjoy it more and more. I think this is because I used to take family time for granted. Now that I only get to see my family 2-3 times a year, I have come to treasure the time I have with them. This, and freedom, are why I love home so much. Also, the people here. I have yet to find people anywhere else that are of the same caliber as those here (sorry if you're not from around here, you're probably a great person but I just love the people here). But Christmas is especially awesome for a few reasons.

First, Christmas music. I love Christmas music. Unfortunately, it seems that fewer and fewer of my friends share my love for the music genre, but I always look forward to playing Christmas music and often start well before Thanksgiving.

Secondly, everyone appears happy. There seems to be less fighting, much more getting along, and overall cheer fills the cold, sharp air. Now, as some of my pessimistic friends have pointed out, for many people it is nothing but an act. Some are really good at playing the part and some try but are terrible at hiding their fake smile. I have a fairly good ability to read people and can usually spot those playing the part with some ease. Regardless, it is often still a more enjoyable atmosphere. Perhaps sometimes it's ok to hide one's feelings. I'm sure that a child, who often cannot read the illegitimate happy front, benefits much more from the cheery parent than they would from an honest but glum parent. It is a well known phenomena how a person's cheer or gloom can spread to others, so when people appear happy, regardless of their true emotion, it often spreads. I really appreciate this aspect of Christmas. Ideally, a happy atmosphere would occur year-round. I try to fulfill this dream in my own life, realizing, of course, that we all have bad days. But the reality of the world is that it does not, so the Christmas cheer that seems rather universal (at least in our country) is a great time for me.

Last, and probably most important to some members of my family, is the food. Christmas and Thanksgiving are the "amazing meal" holidays and I love to eat. I love eating almost as much as I love sleeping. I eat military food most of the year anyway, so I'm pretty much in heaven during the entirety of these two holidays.

Suffice it to say, I truly enjoy Christmas. This year in general has been great, though. It is fitting to have an awesome Christmas break to end a great year on. The past semester went well, I ended up with a term GPA of 3.49, bringing my cumulative up to a 3.05. Not that great for an average college student, but military college is a bit different and sadly I'm still recovering from my first semester there. I'm applying for an internship next summer and one of the requirements is to have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or greater, so I finally meet that requirement and that was my goal. Additionally, my best friend and I have come up with an idea for our senior design project that we'll start next school year, so we'll be writing up a proposal for that next semester. Overall it has been a fantastic year, and I'm looking forward to what I have ahead of me! God has been so good to me, I really have no right to complain. Any time that I feel down or tempted to complain, I need to remember what they used to say: "Count your blessings..."

How was your year? Share your blessings and spread the cheer!

-Storm