Well, hello there.

I didn’t mean to take so much time off from blogging during the holidays but it somehow just happened.  The holidays were an interesting time for me and, a lot of times when I’m experiencing new or maybe difficult things, I’m better off just writing in my diary instead of my blog.  I did have full intentions of putting together a little “round-up of ’09″ post but the blog wasn’t exactly cooperating and, after trying to force it to give me all the links I wanted, I gave up on it.

But the holidays are behind us now and, since I didn’t feel like writing during them, maybe I can catch you up a bit this week.  The way I see it, if my Christmas tree is still up on January 4, then why shouldn’t I still be writing about Christmas on my blog?  And so, let’s hit the highlights!

Right before my college girls left to go home for their Christmas breaks, we had one final “Life Group” at my house for the semester (if you’re new to my blog, I have a group of college girls that I “mentor”).  The girls were on the brink of finals so, with that in mind, I decided to throw them a Christmas party!  I fixed lasagna, garlic bread and, for dessert, created a wee little table full of sugar for them!

Shall we take a closer look, my darlings?

On the left side of the table I had placed their silverware; red utensils wrapped in white napkins with red and white ribbon to match the theme of the table.  With that said, let me take a moment to bid a fond farewell to the four boys who read this blog who just totally zoned out about the time I began describing the color of the napkins.

Above the napkins are frosted glass ornaments that I made for the girls; each ornament had their initial on it and was tied with coordinating ribbon.  It’s hard to tell in this picture, but both of these things are sitting in a really cute wooden sleigh.

To make the dessert table more fun, I mixed things up a bit by having part of the desserts be items that they should eat while they were at my house, such as dark and white chocolate pretzels served in cute cupcake holders…

… as well as some dessert items to take home with them!  I created a “take-away” section using glass vases filled with various holiday-themed candies and gave the girls bags to fill up with candy that they could enjoy whilst they studied for their exams.

One of the things that I was most excited about was creating little “hot chocolate” take-home packets for them until I came up with an even more appropriate idea: take-home coffee packets for those late study nights!

To make these bags, I filled funnel-shaped cellophane bags with instant coffee and then added creamer cups to serve as “marshmallows” before tying it with red and white ribbon.  If you wanted to make this with hot chocolate, you could easily substitute the coffee for hot chocolate mix and real marshmallows for the creamer packets!

As an extra little surprise, I fixed a couple of “take-away” meals for each girl that she could reheat in her dorm or apartment microwave.  It wasn’t much but, when it comes to final exam week, everyone knows that a couple of pre-prepared meals is any college students’ dream come true.

So, there you have it: my holiday with my college girls!  We had a fantastic time together and, in case you’re wondering, I only have one week left until they’re back in town for a new semester.  Which is, you know, a week too long in my opinion.