The first half of the month I spent mostly studying. Luckily, though, my finals were much more manageable than previous semesters, and for the first time I was able to find time for a few study breaks to do some Christmasy-type things. Our first activity was to trudge through the thickly falling snow one Saturday afternoon to find and cut down the perfect Christmas tree! The tree was for Nate and Lori, but we decided it would be lots of fun to go along for the experience. Plus, without us there, who would have taken all the pictures?? I was seriously very concerned about this - it was the tipping factor when I was trying to decide whether to stay home and study or go Christmas tree hunting.
We had a great time and were glad we went. I'm just relieved I didn't lose any fingers to the cold since that would have made typing my finals considerably more difficult.
Nate and Lori really did find the perfect tree - but they couldn't have done it without us! 
Plus Nate needed another guy to help chop it down and carry it off. Lori and I were there for photo-ops, not for sawing on our hands and knees with a face full of pine needles.
I was just super excited not to be studying!
The next event of the month was my 25th birthday. The past few years my birthdays haven't even caused me to blink since I'm usually taking a final that day or the day after. But this year my first final wasn't for 3 more days, and I wasn't nearly as overwhelmed as usual - so I stopped studying at 5 and took an entire evening to celebrate. Joe and I went to Pei Wei, and then went to look for a small tree of our own, which proved unsuccessful.
Then I went to Lori's to open my present and blow out my candle on the fantastic cake she made me. :) I told her I didn't want a real cake since I was trying to eat healthy during finals and she came up with this creative concoction. I am a huge Special K fan and I loved it.
I also took some time to admire my new car, since that was my birthday present (quite the present I'd say!) and opened my other wonderful presents from my parents and Nate and Lori. Since my birthday expectations have been set pretty low in recent years, it really didn't take much to make it a completely fantastic day! Except for the fact that I am getting so old ... I didn't like that part so much.Then, by December 19th, I was done! It was an awesome feeling to know that Joe and I are both just one semester away! We had to kick it right into Christmas mode so we could get our packages sent out the next day, and then start our Christmas shopping. But we had everything all set by the night of the 23rd so we could enjoy Christmas Eve. That night we also went to see the lights at the Temple and the Reflections of Christ exhibit which we really enjoyed.
On the 24th we awoke to freezing rain and almost called off our trip to Hershey, PA, but then decided to go anyway. It was basically empty there which was great - we could tell the place is set up for long lines. We rode the "factory tour" ride twice without even getting off and had fun looking all all the different sweets which none of us really wanted to eat (well, maybe deep down we did, but ...).
The weather wasn't fantastic but we had fun anyway. Now we know what the place is all about, and we may just have to take a trip back sometime when the museum reopens. We ended the outing with lunch at the The Chocolate Bar, and it was delicious. Then we drove back home through the rain while listening to Christmas tunes on XM radio ... Joe and Lori belted out the Hallelujah chorus of Handel's Messiah, and I even joined in a little. Fun!Later we had a cozy little Christmas Eve at Nate and Lori's. We made pizzas with dough from the Big Cheese (sooooo good) and watched the Santa Claus, and then went home to wait for Santa to come.
And come he did! Here is our little tree (borrowed from the Edmans after they left town but decorated by us) and all of our presents before we took them up to Nate and Lori's.
Basically it was the size of the tree that determined where we would hold our Christmas festivities. And here are Joe and me showing off the Christmas pajama bottoms my mom made for us! They have cute little snowmen on them if you can't tell ...
Although we really missed our families, we had a very nice, quiet little Christmas just the 4 of us.
Joe with his new bike helmet.
And some nice vice grips.
Me opening up a new hair straightener (a Chi!) - well, a box with a picture and a customer review of the straightener taped to it (very cute, Joe!). The real one was on its way.
And admiring my new coat! Joe did a fabulous job surprising me this year. :)That afternoon we enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner with friends at the Auston's home. Unfortunately I had a few hours where nothing seemed to go my way - the rolls took forever to rise, one pan got burned, and I felt like a Christmas wreck. You'd think the adorable Christmas apron my mom made me would have brought me better luck! ;) However with wonderful company and great food I was soon able to recover.
To finish off the day, we talked to our families via phone or iChat, and then started and almost finished a 500 piece Christmas puzzle before we could no longer keep our eyes open. Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas! We love you! 
