Twelve and half years have gone by since I started school, and they are about to come to an end. December 2013 was my very last Christmas break of high school.
Seniors have several perks, and one of those perks is to be exempt from semester tests both semesters as opposed to just the last one. I worked hard all semester to be exempt, and it paid off in the end because I got three weeks for Christmas break instead of two. Instead of taking tests, I spent two days of my first week out doing my Independent Service Project (ISP) for National Honor Society.
We have to volunteer for a non-profit organization, and it worked out great that my grandma works at Cleburne County Aging Program, and Becca and I could easily volunteer there. We got to deliver meals to senior citizens, and we also cleaned a lot. While we were cleaning out a storage closet, we happened upon a toy shark, which brought up a few memories from our physics class. We took a picture with the shark just so we could tweet the picture to our teacher, Mrs. Mica Rose. A minimum of ten hours was required; we worked the whole ten hours split up between two days. Overall, it was a great experience to volunteer there. Becca and I had a great chance to make a name for National Honor Society and get out in the community to help.
During the second week of Christmas break, I spent a lot of time with my friends and family, and I actually worked on my senior memory book. A memory book is like a scrapbook that contains essays about events that have happened throughout senior year. The memory book is not due until the end of the school year, but I have heard that waiting until the last minute to do your scrapbook is expensive and not fun. I do not usually scrapbook so I found out how true that statement was really fast. Scrapbooking is very time-consuming. Luckily for me, my boyfriend’s mother happens to be pretty much a scrapbook professional. I spent at least two hours picking out just paper to use for all the essays I had written.
Technically, I am even ahead of schedule because I had eight essays written while most other people have about six at this time. I found the process of the memory book project to be really fun actually. I constantly think about how I can write a memory book essay about everything exciting I do. The minimum amount of essays is twelve, but I will probably easily have more than that. I spent time at my boyfriend’s house for about four nights in a row just so I could have his mom’s help with my scrapbook. I enjoyed having so much time to work on it, and now I look for time to work on it again. At the end of the year, when people are hurrying to finish their memory books, I will not be one of those people that procrastinated.
Other than scrapbooking, the most memorable part of my last Christmas break was probably going duck huntin’. Down here in the south, huntin’ does not end with a ‘g’. Anyway, my best friend, Becca, and I got the privilege to go duck huntin’ with our boyfriends. Becca and I are very supportive of our boyfriends’ huntin’ hobby, but we both love sleep and the indoors. Waking up at 2:30 AM and putting on five layers of clothes did not exactly sound appealing to either of us. Rayel, Becca’s boyfriend, instructed us to be at his house at 3:30 sharp, and unfortunately, he meant 3:30 a.m.
Ironically, Becca and I slept right through the alarms, and we woke up at the same time we were supposed to be at Rayel’s house. Needless to say, we put on five layers of clothes quicker than we usually put on one layer. Thirty minutes is only a little bit late, right? Even though there was still a drive to Bald Knob to go through. We missed “the race,” whatever that means. While we were laying in the grass with blankets made of straw, it started snowing. As I mentioned, I like indoors because inside, there is heat and not snow. I tried hard not to complain the whole time we were out there so I did not make the boys completely miserable, but they made me miserable by dragging me out there so I did not feel too bad. Dalton and Rayel only killed two ducks, but they could not find either of them. Lucky for us, Becca and I decided that we were bad luck charms; taking us back out there would only cause distress. One good thing that came out of the huntin’ trip was the lunch date that came after. The Bald Knob Bulldog restaurant was filled with boys in camo that had just finished their huntin’ escapades as well. Noticeably, Becca and I were the only females in the restaurant decked out in camo. I just hope we did not give the other boys in there ideas to bring their girlfriends huntin’ too. Poor girls. Another good thing that came out of the huntin’ trip was a memory book essay, which I am anticipating scrapbooking.
Christmas day was a little off schedule compared to usual, but I am still very blessed to have been able to have such a great day with my family. Santa Clause brought a trampoline to my niece, Brooklyn. Since she lives with me, the trampoline stays at my house. Therefore, I get free access to it whenever I want. It is nice to have a toy that I actually enjoy playing with as opposed to her usual set of toys.
New Years Eve, Dalton’s mom allowed us to have a little bonfire at his house to provide some good clean fun for us. We ate some snacks and then went outside to start up the fire. Right before midnight we watched the ball drop in New York on television, and then the boys played a few Wii games. The boys dancing was a great way to start out the new year- with laughter.
The rest of my Christmas break consisted of relaxing and enjoying my last few days off before school started back for a while. However, you should always be careful what you wish for because “I wish I didn’t have to go back to school tomorrow” sometimes means that you will wake up the next morning with the flu. I had a little bit of an extended break because I spent two miserable days in bed. I would have rather been at school and perfectly well than be at home in the condition that I was in. I got well and was back at school on Wednesday.
The overall break was great, and I made a lot of good memories. Memories that are definitely worthy of memory book essays.
