Holidaze

(Yes, I stole the title from a Grey's Anatomy episode. You caught me.)

The holidays are fabulous--family comes to town (or you go to them), beautiful decorations pop up all over the place (I'm such a sucker for those Christmas ball ornaments--the matte kind, that just glow with color. I want to suspend a million of them on fishing line from my ceiling, so that I can feel like I'm floating in chromatics every time I walk into my room), and old familiar music that everyone knows pulls itself out of the attic and into your soul--holidays are warm, fuzzy times of year.

Unless you are a college student. For if you are a college student, holidays = final exams = holidaze. Tis the season to stay up way past your nonexistent bedtime reading and rewriting and rereading notes you took 3 months ago. If you sleep, visions of #2 pencils and scantrons dance will in your head. Your eyes will turn haunted, your walk will melt into a tired shuffle, and people on the street will stop to remind you that it is Christmastime, not Halloween--so really, drop the zombie act.


In addition to changing you from a well-adjusted and happy college student to a depressed and mumbling over-sized kindergartener, the Holidaze will also rob you of your physical well-being. At 3 AM, you will not reach for vegetables, or fruit. You will reach for a candy bar. When you forget to pack your lunch (because you instead were running chemistry equations through your brain), you will stop at Wendys, and you will be tired and your zombie mouth will tell the person behind the counter to give you "a number ten large combo", which you will then use to salt your sorrows and rot your body (so that it matches the current state of your brain). The Holidaze are a tough time for those of us who have final exams (or have to see those of us who have final exams--it's not pretty).

But life (and Holidaze) is not all bad--for there are acorn squash and puppies in the world.

Acorn squash is my biggest surprise yet--oh my goodness, it's a lot like potatoes (like, enough like potatoes that I could substitute it an be alright). Here's what my wonderful superwoman-mother did:
--Cut the squash in half (this will be difficult, as squash do not like being squashed or mangled in any way)
--Steam the squash until tender (about 20 minutes)
--Cut the squash into smaller pieces so that they are more easily consumable.
--Dress as desired with pepper, salt, and/or butter. Eat with other yummy foods.


I only had a few bites (I had already eaten), but oh, it was so good--I will definitely have to try the recipe. I was quite, quite pleased. One last gift to kick off the season:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/RecipeIndex

Happy Holidaze! I will eat rabbit food.