What a week.

It started with the usual bustle of trying to finish up last minute work for holidays, food shopping, preparing for my brother to come home for a few days, and general mayhem.

By Tuesday, Stew was home and I stayed up past midnight to finish work for the week so we could spend some time together. On Wednesday, I was baking away, chatting with my family, and completely oblivious to what was coming next: a three page letter that told me of my acceptance to Houghton College and the offer of a substantial scholarship, plus an invitation to interview for their honors program in the spring.

Wow.

I wasn’t expecting to hear back from any of the schools until the end of December. I already had plans of how I would literally live at the end of my driveway, camped out in anticipation of the daily mail delivery. As if all of this wasn’t enough, I also was able to check my latest SAT scores and found that I had upped my score by about 100 points. It was my day, I guess.

Thanksgiving was a nice, quiet affair this year. Being next to useless in the kitchen, my contribution to the meal was a green bean casserole and the donation of an apron to my mother. Hey, every little bit helps, right? Instead of cooking, I cleaned up from time to time and finished the fifth HP book. Really, the day turned out ideally for me: food, family and books.

Friday was, as it is every year, the day that we went to get our Christmas tree. The wind was bitter, so we picked our tree in record time—anything to get out of that cold, which is saying a lot coming from a northern girl who would rather it be below zero than above ninety. As the snow came down, the decorations went up yesterday, making our little country home feel cozier than ever, with wreaths on every window and a glowing woodstove to warm us.

Let’s hope that this week is just as fantastic.