Lots of Thanks

Busy, kind of crazy break.  But got lots of relaxing done too. 

I worked on Monday and Tuesday, which was good because I got caught up on everything!  On Wednesday Haley and I borrowed Evan's car (Yay Evan -- come up from Princeton and loan us your car any time you want!) and went to Glouster and Bear Skin Neck for the day.  I can't find my camera cord at the moment, so you'll have to wait for photos of the event, but suffice it to say that 1) it poured and we were entirely soaked through, 2) we ignored some pretty obvious road signs to traipse through a private yacht club to get to a light house, and 3) we had a blast! 

On Thursday morning I went with some school friends to another friend/TA/mother of student's house in Methuen.  The food was good and it was fun to be with people away from Boston.  Also, there were cats, so I got some quality pet time in.  On Friday morning we went to the Methuen Festival of Trees.  People decorate trees and then they sell tickets to win the tree and whatever is on/in it.  There were some traditionally beautiful ones and there were some real dogs.  There were also some really creative and weird ones.  Guess which ones I took photos of?

Two trees put together in a frame to look like an hour glass -- pretty neat!  Bumble, the abominable snowman from Rudolph, with rubber organs pinned to him and notes that explain what an MRI machine does.  There is nothing about this that makes sense to me.  Merry Christmas?

A T-Rex with a Christmas tree for a body.  An under the sea themed Christmas extravaganza.  It is conical in shape, so I guess it counts as a tree.  It had a hammer head shark coming out of it on one side and a Moray eel coming from the base.  There was a Manta ray on the other side.  You can see the jelly fish and coral and fish and things.  It's pretty neat.

Here's where the time crunch begins...

I got home at 12:30 on Friday.  Started a load of laundry.  Got a phone call at 1:00.  Packed a bag.  Caught the train at 1:20.  Got to South Station at 2:00.  Wandered aimlessly trying to find "the next building" and get a clue for 12 minutes.  And somehow managed to catch the 2:15 bus to Portland, Maine.  Notice how I didn't say I took the laundry out of the washer...that was a fun treat earlier this evening.

I spent Friday, Saturday, and most of today with Kathleen and her family (extended and immediate) in Augusta, Maine.  It was so much fun!  We played games and ate turkey for every meal (they cooked 44 pounds of it so it was mandatory).  I'd forgotten what it was like to play games with kids.  Everyone is so concerned about cheating, but really the issue is that they want to make sure no one else is cheating more than they are.  It's the whole log in the eye thing.  I also earned a sweet nickname, so you should know that I am now known in Augusta as Mrs. Turnip.  I have a pet turnip named Roofus.  I had so much fun and they were so lovely to be with!  Maine is beautiful and it was so good to be out of the city.

I went to church with Kathleen this morning and enjoyed it very much.  Today being the first Sunday of Advent the sermon was on hope, which is what I needed to hear today.  During the first service they had a mini hymn sing, so we got to sing about 6 additional songs.  Then I went to Sunday School where I met a sweet kid.  We had the following conversation:

Me: What's your favorite subject in school?
Kid: Language arts.
Me: Yeah? Do you like to read or write, or both?
Kid: I like to write.  Last year I wrote a 17 page story about a mutant hamster.
Me: What did he do?
Kid: He fought crime.
Me: Did he have a cool crime-fighting name?
Kid: Michael.

And this is why kids are a hoot.  The second service was also nice, and the sermon was good the second time too.  Plus I got double bonus communion!

Then I ate some turkey, and, while it snowed, I took a nap next to this:

And then I got on a bus and came home.  It was a good week/weekend.  Also, bought my tickets home for Christmas -- I leave in a little over 2 weeks!!  Gotta push through until then.  And the end of this semester marks the half-way point of my degree.  Weird.  But it really is weird how much difference one semester makes in how prepared you feel.

So that's what I've got going on, and I'm thankful for all of it.  Thankful I get to go to school.  Thankful that, for the moment, everybody is relatively happy and healthy.  Thankful that I'm enjoying my classes.  Thankful for friends who take me into their homes.  Thankful, thankful, thankful.