Students Tell How They Spent the Holidays

One of the best parts about the holidays is spending time with family and friends. For this holiday season I was lucky enough to be able to do just that. My mom’s friends from Toronto came down for nearly two weeks, leaving their kids with us for one week. I’ve known them for about six or seven years, yet I had never really been close to them for some reason. Having someone live with you for a week either makes you love them or hate them. Luckily, in this case, it was love them. When they left it was like losing two siblings, minus the rivalry.

While they were here, we had a blast. There are so many parts of Florida that I discovered, parts I’d had no desire to even search out before. I’d never really looked around the mud flats, but with our friends staying with us we caught hermit crabs (and let them go again), saw lots of cool fish, and accidentally picked up a very large snail (we were trying to see if there was a hermit crab living inside). Having people from out-of-state really gave me a new way to view Florida and the things I take for granted!

—Andrea Connolly, Palm Beach area

Christmas Break flew by, no time to sleep in like I had hoped for. Most mornings were occupied with work or my little brother wanting someone to play with, which I can't blame him. Always something to do, but I managed to enjoy the finer things in life also. I watched the sunset with my family, rummaged through books, talked to long lost friends, wrote, and listened to music. And now as I feared its time for school once again. Time to get my bookbag ready and turn my head back on.

—Beth