THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS UPON US!

Hello everyone. It has been such a busy time of year as for many university students it is finals week. I can't say that I'm in a spot worse than anyone else's, but my university practically disregards the meaning of dead week. Long story short, I had a unit exam in Gen Chem this last Friday. But on the plus side, I actually did have a productive dead week and am looking at a pretty easy finals week as far as finals week goes, so that's cool.

That being said, was anyone else blindsided by the holiday season?

I am from Colorado, so I'm used to seeing snow for a solid month before Thanksgiving. But here at school we've only had a sheet-thin snow one time last November. For a while, it really just felt like it was pretty much the same speal of college, just getting colder. Then suddenly, I went home for Thanksgiving. And then suddenly, there were two weeks left in the semester!

Anyway, although finals week is at the absolute forefront of my mind, the magic of Christmas is settling in too. The university I attend put a great deal of effort into making the campus look absolutely splendiforous. 

Who else out there is a sucker for pretty lights?

And it also snowed today (about 3-4 inches), which made the quick walk for a study break really special. Then, this evening for church, we read Bible verses and sang carols that corresponded to the stories. I'm at that point right now where I don't know if I should say "Good luck on finals" or "Merry Christmas," so for today I'll just have to wish you good luck on finals and a merry Christmas.

Take care,

-Riley XO

P.S. I am making some minor changes to Smiles throughout the rest of this year (so that studying for Calculus will not consume and destroy my life). If you have any feedback, please let me know by shooting me an email or leaving a comment. There will be a new section called "Dear Friend," which I am so excited for, and I'm also planning to update the "About" page (also, what do you guys think of the pictures I'm starting to incorporate?). I know a lot of bloggers say this when they start thinking about New Year's Resolutions, but I'm also going to try posting more too. I'm trying to get into vlogging for fun too, so I guess we'll see what I find time for. Thank you for reading as always--please follow and subscribe!--and I hope that you have a great rest of your day. 

P.P.S. For those of you who may have ever wondered, tree squirrels do not hibernate but ground squirrels do. I saw a squirrel wandering out in the snow today and could not decide if they hibernated a lot and just looked it up two seconds ago.

P.P.P.S. Look at this red squirrel, it's so adorable and fluffy!!

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