Holiday Happy Times

Day 342 - Finish a Law School Outline
Date: December 14th, 2010

I suppose it should be hideously embarrassing that in three years of law school this is the first time I've accomplished this, but I was pretty darn proud of myself.  Usually the deadline gets too close and I end up just rereading for detail to prepare for the exam.  This time, I buckled down and forced myself to push through.  It felt good to get the hang of something, even if it was my last time at the rodeo.

Day 343 - Finish a Law School Exam in Under Half the Time
Date: December 15th, 2010

Along similar lines, I'm going to continue to pat myself on the back about finally properly managing law school exams.  The first portion of the exam was multiple choice.  I ended up taking a cat nap because I got done so insanely quickly that I had a solid 90 minutes until I was even allowed to look at the second portion of the test.  Man did that feel good.

Day 344 -Be Fully Prepared for a Law School Exam
Date: December 16th, 2010

I know, similar theme, but when the essay portion of my exam on the day before this hit, I realized I wasn't as prepared as I'd hoped.  Yeah, okay, I managed the multiple choice just fine, but the essays were a killer.  I started to get disheartened, thinking I'd go all the way through law school without once feeling like I knew what I was doing on an exam (though I suppose that part of what they're going for most of the time).  Then I took my exam on day 344.  As I looked through each question, I knew the answer.  That or I knew where to find it in my notes.  And man did that feel good.

Day 345 - Hang My Own Stockings
Date: December 17th, 2010

Justin and I don't have stocking holders.  We both go excited about decorating for Christmas, but didn't realize until we got going that we were missing certain parts that we needed to get in order to fully enjoy the season.  Like things to hang stockings on a mantle.  We decided to go a different route this year and hang little mini-stockings on our tree instead.  I stuffed his with a massive Hershey kiss (filled the whole thing).  I love Christmas.

Day 346 - Go to a "White Elephant" Party
Date: December 18th, 2010

Yeah, so, I had no idea what a "white elephant" party was before going over to Justin's dad's house, but once I got there, I realized it was awesome.  See, everyone buys a gift and puts it in the center and then people draw numbers.  People then pick out and open gifts based on the numbers and the later people can force trades down the line.  I, of course, managed to get the one dirty gift in the entire pile.  It was like the universe drew me to that package.  Hilarious.

Day 347 - Get a Ring Resized
Date: December 19th, 2010

For Christmas, Justin and I had decided to get each other promise rings.  We both bought them a few months back and tried them on just for good measure.  Turns out, his was almost two sizes too small.  After twenty minutes and way too much soap (and Justin keeping his eye closed the whole time so he wouldn't see it before Christmas) we decided we needed to get it resized.  Two things shocked me.  First, it was the easiest thing, like, ever.  Second, they did an absolutely incredible job.  Its impossible to tell where they added metal - they kept the pattern pristine.  So, our Christmas was wonderful.

Day 348 - Shop for Christmas from a List
Date: December 20th, 2010

My family is somewhat romantic about Christmas.  What I mean by that is that we like to surprise each other.  We particularly like getting that just perfect gift and seeing the person's reaction when they open it.  Justin's family tends to be a bit more utilitarian about the season.  I thought I wouldn't like that, since I'm a big fan of big surprises, but it turned out to be fantastic.  Shopping from a list was so easy and it ensured that people got exactly what they wanted.  The best part, for me, is that I don't have to choose a Christmas style - as long as we do Christmas with both families, its the best of both worlds.

Day 349 - Take a Drug Test for a Job
Date: December 21st, 2010

I'm not going to lie... I'm mostly just happy that no one watched me pee.  Sorry if that's gross.  I'm just saying.  I'm... not particularly a fan of having an audience for such things.  That being said, other than not wanting to lose privacy, it goes without saying that I wasn't particularly concerned about the whole drug test thing.  You have to, you know, use drugs to fail one of those tests.  

Day 350 - Graduate Law School
Date: December 22nd, 2010

So, of all the things happening these last couple weeks, this one was simultaneously the biggest and the reason why none of the others have been big.  In preparation for my last finals, graduating, etc... I've had to scale back a lot of this project.  As I reached that day, it became more and more emotionally clear that focusing on graduation was the right choice (not that it was significantly in question before).  It was an incredibly proud moment.  Especially getting to sit next to my classmates and see them experience the same joy and pride at finishing one of the harder life tasks that exists today.  The speech by our classmate was incredible.  She did a great job capturing what it was like for our class to go through law school together.

For me it was particularly touching to have family there.  My parents were there, of course, but Justin's family also came to the ceremony.  My parents made a wonderful dinner afterwords and we spent hours just relaxing, enjoying the day and socializing.  Its amazing to feel like all the divergent aspects of your life can come together seamlessly for a day.  My graduation day was, without question, one of the highlights of my life.

Day 351 - Give Christmas Present Advice to Someone
Date: December 23rd, 2010

In particular, by someone, I mean Justin's mom.  I got a call asking if something she was thinking of would be something he would like.  As simple as that question was, it carried with it a high level of trust, for me at least.  As with the graduation, I've come to deeply enjoy getting to interact with my boyfriend's family in a positive, affirming way.  They're all such wonderful, open people.  I laughed after I hung up the phone because I realized it was the first time I'd been trusted with even a somewhat mundane question like what to get someone for Christmas.

Day 352 - Go to Midnight Mass
Date: December 24th, 2010

I've been to church (quite a bit actually) and I've been to Mass a few times.  I'm not Catholic, so Mass is still a rather new experience for me in general.  One thing I definitely hadn't done before was go to the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at a Catholic Church.  Justin's mom goes every year and when he mentioned it to me, it seemed like the perfect thing of the day.  In addition to being a very Christ-centric activity (given that it is Christmas and all), I found it delightfully uplifting to be surrounded by people celebrating the season.

The one thing that threw me off is that I'm not used to the Catholic versions of hymns and verses.  So we started praying multiple times and I confidently started saying the words I knew, only to look around and realize I was the only one saying it that way.  It led to a couple awkward stares.  That didn't dampen what a great night it was though.

Day 353 - Have my Own Personal Christmas
Date: December 25th, 2010

Every year, for my entire life, I've done Christmas morning with my parents (or someone's parents).  There comes a point in everyone's life when they begin to want their own traditions and their own distinct memories.  This year, instead of spending the night at my parents' house the night before and waking up there, Justin and I stayed at our place, woke up without an alarm, relaxed on the couch in pajamas and opened a couple presents.  For the first time ever, I had my own personal Christmas at home.  It was lovely.

Day 354 - Play Bumper Pool
Date: December 26th, 2010

Bumper pool rocks.  Justin cheats though.  That's a lie.  I'm just a sore loser.  We went over to Dawn and Tony's for a Christmas dinner and got a few rounds of bumper pool (the table was my dad's gift to them) in after we ate.  Its great.  I love it.  Its so much faster than pool and even not being very good, people can challenge each other.  Pool, when people aren't that good, takes for darn ever.  With bumper pool, the table is so small that most people will sink their shots rather quickly regardless of skill.  Also, Justin cheats.