It is that time of the year again, another semester in the books. Speaking of books, finals are here and to those that aren’t prepared we have you covered! Once the horrid week is over then it’s time to let the celebrations begin.
To those that attended Black Friday you’re a step ahead! For the rest, don’t feel too bad because after a long week of finals, a bit of retail therapy should help relieve some of that stress. Before you actually begin though a list would be a good way to limit your spending and not forget anyone on your list. You don’t want to have another awkward Christmas where you brought gifts for everyone except uncle Joe who is never around except on Christmas—coincidence? I think not. Now regardless if you have a list, a budget is necessary as well because we all have bills to pay especially to those who don’t live at home. No one wants to go back to their apartment to an empty fridge. When it comes to a budget make sure to always keep all the receipts. Not only to add up the prices but maybe Uncle Joe doesn’t like blue sweaters and prefers black–or maybe you just found that same blu ray player you purchased a few days ago at another store for a lower price. There’s nothing wrong with saving some money on one gift because you can always use it towards another that you couldn’t afford like that Michael Kors watch you…or your sister always wanted.
As Christmas approaches luckily for most of us our family has already put up the Christmas tree, stocking stuffers, lights, inflatables outside on the lawn and hopefully they saved the star for you as in the finishing touch, sounds good doesn’t it? For most this is far beyond expectancy, get ready to clean out the old garage with your dad and siblings and prepare for madness. As it occurs dad has been using the same lights for the past few years so a couple of bulbs might not be working their best and of course he will probably only notice this once the lights are up. Stay a step ahead: check if everything works first and make another list of what doesn’t. No one wants to take two trips to a store filled with people doing the exact same thing looking for the exact same items and everyone is in a rush to get home, it never works out. Once the decorations are in done, wrapping up gifts is next on the list! Because I know for the most part, during finals week everything stayed in the trunk because it was too much to bring upstairs.
We all know the gift boxes at even your favorite store are horrendous and that is no way to give a present to someone especially if you worked hard to get that nice blue sweater uncle Joe wanted. We all know we always end up with more left over wrapping paper than we use. So instead of wasting the rest of the paper full of candy canes, Christmas trees, and Santa, you can always go a different route and use solid colors instead so that way you can use them for other occasions as well. We all have excuses to use wrapping paper anyway why not save some for the rest of the year?
So many tasks so little time, be prepared to lose the diet plan you’ve been working on all year. For most no matter how hard you try to avoid that Christmas ham, roast turkey, stuffing, asado, pernil, tamales, pollo al horno, roasted chicken and so on it will be a task indeed and that doesn’t even include the desserts! If you haven’t heard of several of these dishes, this year is the time to do so and maybe even add them to your menu next year. I will not speak about the desserts because if I start talking about fruitcakes, apple cider, eggnog, Christmas cookies, hot chocolate and apple pie most will cry themselves to sleep thinking about all the calories and sugar intake–I feel your pain I truly do. But in all seriousness it’s the holidays, it only happens once a year! Take this time to be around loved ones and enjoy their company once you get back to school we have a plan to help you get back to where you left off!
When Christmas Eve is here and everyone is patiently waiting until midnight in the living room waiting to open up the gifts, grab yourself some hot chocolate and join the festivities with the rest of the family—because even if we do live in Miami, it does get a bit chilly so enjoy the weather! Trust me you do not want to go through what the rest of the northern states are going through no matter how pretty the snow looks.
Happy Holidays to all and remember to be safe no matter what you do or who you’re with we want you back on campus for spring alive and well!!