Christmas Eve - this is my favourite night of the entire year. My house smells like cookies and bread sticks. The Christmas tree is covered in shiny baubles and presents in red and green paper are oozing out from under its bottom branches. An elderly gentleman cat is snoring among the boxes; he loves Christmas too. Another cat, this one with a twitchy tail and perky whiskers, is curled up on the rocking chair. In half an hour they'll probably be chasing each other through the presents. Christmas carols are playing on the radio in the kitchen, and my dad is in such a good mood about finishing his shopping he hasn't told my mother to "turn down that awful, schmaltzy racket" or drowned out CBC with blues music. One brother is home and later on we'll all pile into the car to pick up the other brother. Then we'll drive around, looking at Christmas lights, "bickering" over who's taking up too much room in the back seat. Once we come home, we'll hang up our stockings by the chimney with care and nestle into our beds while visions of sugar plums dance in our heads. Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm home! The driving was touch-and-go yesterday, but we made it.

We did make a rest stop just outside Oxford. The Cobequid Pass was nasty - it was freezing raining and snowing and we couldn't see more than a few feet of the road ahead. After passing an SUV upside down in the ditch and nearly being pushed off the road by an eighteen-wheeler that whizzed past at twice the speed of all the other vehicles on the highway (most of which had their four-way flashers on), Mom decided she wanted to get off the highway until a snowplow had been by. What really made me laugh was that the eighteen-wheeler was an ice cream truck: Now, I'm an ice cream fan and all, but really, who needs ice cream that badly during a snow storm?

Anyway, I've been enjoying cuddling with my cats and playing Stephen's new Wii. Tomorrow my family is putting up our decorations. Time for Christmas!

Done! Done! DONE!!! My mom will be here in four hours and I'll be home tomorrow!!!!

This is how I feel today, except I'm beating my head, not a drum set. Stupid essay-writing. Only four more days until I can go home. Grumble.

This afternoon, instead of working on my essay, I went to see Happy Feet. I've really been looking forward to watching this movie -- I mean, does it get any better than singing and dancing penguins?! Although I thought the story could have been tightened up in some places, the visuals were absolutely stunning, especially the shots of Antarctic scenery and the part where Mumble goes swimming for the first time.

Speaking of penguins, today is my fellow peguin fan's 25th birthday! This lovely boy keeps me well stocked in hugs and all kinds of penguin paraphenalia. Happy birthday VIP! *HONK*

Ahhh procrastination, it's like we were never parted. And now, instead of only being able to use cleaning as an excuse to avoid writing my term paper, I can write stuff for my blog too!

Last Friday night was the SIM Christmas party. Dee and I got ready together, which involved a lot of singing, dancing, and sparkles. I discovered that my ineptitude for hair only applies to my own head and that I actually make someone else's hair look pretty. I got to wear my pretty red dress (you all know how I feel about pretty red things) and eat potatos, so I was happy with the evening. To your right is a picture of Dee, Emily, and me trying to be sassy.

Satuday evening some of us headed down to the Grand Parade to watch the lighting of the Christmas tree. We had candy from the Freak Lunchbox and got to sing Christmas carols. After the tree was lit there was a fireworks display! Then we all stopped at the Second Cup to get some delicious liquid gingerbread (that is, Gingerbread lattes) and headed over to Fenwick to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol and Elf.

This week I've mostly been either working on assignments or studying for exams. Databases are finally over (they were the equivalent of theory class for me) and now I only have one paper and one exam left to go! This time next week I'll be home!!