Welcome December!

Holy smokes. It is December.

Usually, I'd be raring to deck my halls with various holiday paraphernalia, but this year I'm opting to focus on school instead. The halls will have to wait.

Luckily, there are a few things that definitely get me into the holiday spirit, without all the grunt work of digging out my decorations.

The smell of mandarin oranges. I'm not a huge orange fan myself (it's a texture thing, love the taste, not fond of the texture, I will still eat them, but I don't LOVE them). Jason bought a box for himself at the grocery store, and every time he eats one, the smell makes me feel Christmas-y.

The fireplace channel on our Bell satellite. Last year it played holiday tunes as well, this year it seems that it's just the sound of a crackling fire ... still OK by me though. Chucking that channel on and listening to holiday tunes while wrapping presents ... definitely makes me feel Christmas-y.

I've already mentioned the Starbucks addictions that I've fallen prey to, flavoured as they are with festive merriment and goodness. They make me feel Christmas-y.

Seeing the Tim Horton's holiday cups around school. Also ... makes me feel Christmas-y.

I'm so excited about our donation drive for adopt-a-family beginning this week. I'm pretty sure that this will give me the ultimate Christmas-y feeling.

Unfortunately, when I'm feeling especially Christmas-y, all I want to do is bake, which both takes time away from studying, and adds unnecessary layers to my butt ... I will have to resist the impulse.

I do have quite a few birthdays to focus on ... December is a big birthday month for my family. I'll have to try and shift my focus ... that may just help.

Now ... all I have to do is get through the crunch-time to-do list (which is shrinking - fa la la la la, la la la la):

• Go through major paper one more time in an editing spree, and fix all citations, then hand the sucker in tomorrow.
• Write my International Law final exam on Dec. 10
• Write my International Trade Law final exam on Dec. 16
• Write my Family Law final exam on Dec 17

While it is so nice to be crossing things off of my list, I must admit that there is a certain paranoia to holding 25 pages of text in your hands and realizing that it compromises 80% of your grade (as in the case of my ADR learning journal), or holding 45 pages of text and realizing that it compromises 100% of your grade (as in the case of my major paper). Yikes. Where's a salted caramel hot chocolate when you need one?