Christmas, glorious Christmas! Around which the entire kid year revolved.

It's Christmas! Hooray for Christmas! I've been looking at Christmas quotes online, it seems there are a lot of too bitter people talking about Christmas. But I ain't one of them! Here's a funny quote, followed by a sentimental quote.

"I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas, with a note on it saying 'toys not included.'"
-Bernard Manning

“Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.”
-Oren Arnold

Seriously, kids. You know what I'm talking about. The joy of giving. The joys of receiving. The beauty of the first snowfall. The traffic to and inside the stores. Generosity of spirit. Selfishness when picking out presents. The overabundance of materialism. The magic of Santa. The smells of cookies and goodies baking. All the lights and decorations of Christmas. The time spent with family. Holiday Traditions. The time we celebrate the birth of our Redeemer. Christmas has it all.

Merry Christmas, and God bless us, every one!

I'm particularly grateful I have nearly all of my Christmas shopping done, so I can just enjoy the holiday and feeling of giving, not the stress of not giving. We bought our first Christmas tree, a beautiful very fake tree at a beautiful very reasonable price, especially since it came with lights on it. Even though our other decorations are sparse (the tree has 3 ornaments on it at the moment) having a tree with lights in the living room makes it Christmastime.

So long, NaNoWriMo! Yes, November is indeed over, as is my attempt at 50,000 words in a month. Final tally: 18,961. I've been stuck quite literally in a pit, with a case of writer's block. But, I finally have it now, and so the NoWriMoDe (novel writing month of december) should go better. I'm hoping to add another 20,000 words or so to my count before 2008.

As the year draws to a close, that means the semester will soon be over. I am sad, as I enjoyed both of my classes immensely, and will miss the instructors. But, I'm also looking forward to next semester. I plan on taking 9 credits, or 3 classes, though I'm having trouble deciding what third class to take. There are surprisingly very few classes being offered at 9 am. Right now, I'm finishing Student Success: Becoming a Master Student, and Math 1030 Quantitative Reasoning. Basically, the required math course for Liberal Art majors. I enjoyed it, as, with exception to logarithms, it contained a lot of information and math I may actually use in my life! I'm currently enrolled in English 101 Honors, the basic writing class for kids smart enough to be in Honors, and smarter enough to go to UVSC. ;) I'm also taking Art History, from the Renaissance to present, and debating on taking an art or computer class, or take one of my science GEs. The Science will probably win, as most art classes are all full. I'll keep you updated.

And that's about it, not too much interesting or wild & crazy stuff happening. Just the regular Austin Barrel o' fun!

Until next time, eat all your vegetables, clean up after yourself, listen to your parents, remember who you are, make good choices, and always, always, read my blog!