Bright Morning Light: Christmas and the surrounding days.

December 11, 2009 arrived amidst cheers of joy and sighs of relief. Finals were over. Christmas break had arrived! The dorms bustled with the excitement of students packing, carrying suitcases to their cars and calling goodbyes and "Merry Christmas" to all their friends. The Bradfield house also filled with the sounds of Christmas break as Craig and I arrived at home, lugging our belongings into the house and searching for non-cafeteria food. The week passed with lots of relaxing, watching movies, playing games, and sleeping - lots of sleeping. There was talk of various excursions to do a variety of things, but in the end laziness won out and the first few weeks of vacation were spent bumming around (on my part at least). Christmas morning dawned bright and clear and started with a family gathering around the Christmas tree to tear apart the wrapping paper on several gifts. When the paper had settled and been carted off to the trash can, each member carried various new possessions off to their rooms and prepared for the lunch that was coming up.
The rest of Christmas was spent at the Grandparents house. The house was filled with laughter and stories from the relatives who had come from Berrien Springs, Bloomington, and Canada.
Sadly, Christmas had to end and the next week was spent much the same as the first two weeks - lots of bumming around. Wednesday Mom and I, ventured to Indianapolis to visit Jeni-Joy, Bianca, Gisella, Uncle Robin, and the newest member of their family, Chiara. We had fun playing with the kids and talking to Jeni-Joy and Uncle Robin. The day was complete when the Hartleys, Lyndon, AB and Justin arrived from Bloomington, just in time to help build the snowman.
The New Year was ushered in with the arrival of Francois and Lyndsay who were here to spend the weekend with us. We enjoyed lots of stories and games together and even a day of skiing with Lyndon, Francois, and I. Unfortunately this weekend meant that a new semester was just a few days off.
Monday night arrived, and that meant moving back to the dorm and preparing for classes that would start the next morning. Although it was sad to have to do things again, the semester started with lots of excitement. I arrived at classes for the first two days still a student with an undeclared major but content with the classes I was taking. Coming out of class on Wednesday I got a call from Mom which resulted in lunch together in the Cafeteria. A couple hours later, with a break for my ceramics class, I emerged from our meeting with a major, another minor, and a trip to Peru. This might sound confusing so, let me explain. I decided on a major in Behavior Science and added a minor in Visual Art to my already present French minor. (In case you missed that I have a Behavioral Science major with a minor in french and a minor in visual art). And, after deciding on that major we discovered that the Peru study tour would fill part of the requirements for my major. So, in a flourish of activity - signing forms, adding and dropping classes, and running back and forth - we emerged with a declared major and minor and a spot in the tour class, which I'm very excited about.

That's about all I have to say at the moment... I'm adding pictures so that you can see some of the antics that occurred during Christmas break.
Enjoy!