Have you ever noticed just how short December really is? You have school for like the first 15-21 days of the month(depending on whether you in regular school or college), but those days are full of carols, play practices, tree trimming, gift shopping, gift wrapping, gift giving, cookies, relatives, and hundreds of other activities. We try to get in the Christmas spirit, but we rush through the first 24 days, hold tight to the 25th, and then slip through the last 6 days into the new year. December is like a non-month! It's barely here. Those first 20 or so days may drag a little at times, but round the eve of the eve of the eve or Christmas eve, the days start to fly. Then Christmas doesn't last long enough. It only gets faster each year. This is like my 20+ Christmas and might be the last one with all my family together. I don't want to rush. I want to enjoy it. I wish I could freeze us in time and enjoy the younger kids playing with toys while parents laugh with gramps about years gone by. I want to make enough memories to cushion the blows of finally growing up. I want my December to drag and drag and drag like I'm in the middle of a 16-week semester. But that'll never happen.

Enjoy your shortest month of the year now. Don't wait till it's too late. Don't let this holiday-packed month slip by.

Merry Christmas,

Karen Shivoski
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