Mega Holiday Mash-Up

With my applications finally completed (praise God!) and the semester wrapped up, I am relaxing on Staten Island, preparing for the Christmas holidays with Mom and Dad. With extra time on my hands, I thought it was time to finally update you on the last several weeks.

My last non-homiletic post told you about my curtailed trip east to visit grad schools, a couple of football weekend visitations, and some of the goings on at Old College - specifically, our tradition of Sunday evening meals.

So, I figured that was a good place to pick back up. Before everyone scattered for the Thanksgiving holiday, Fr. Kevin treated the house to a fried turkey for one of our Sunday dinners. We had lovely weather, so it wasn't at all onerous to be outside watching the bird cook . . . and we got lots of comments from passers-by walking the lake path.

I'd never had a fried turkey before and it was magnificent. So good, I would totally support the fried version as an acceptable substitute for the holiday's traditional roasted version.

Here, Fr. Kevin and Kyle perform surgery on the birds so we can dig in:

With the house basically empty for the weekend, I put in a big push to finish up my writing samples and personal statements for my applications. But I took a break to participate in a trivia tournament hosted at Old College by Fr. Kevin. More than a dozen Holy Cross priests and seminarians joined us for an evening of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. (The game included a DVD with video questions, hence the focus on the TV here:)

Divided into teams based on our ministry or local house (Corby Hall, Moreau Seminary, Old College, SBN Parishes, etc.) I joined Fr. Kevin, Andrew, Bryan and Joe on the Old College team. Though I literally didn't know the answer to a single question, Joe and Fr. Kevin were pros, and our team won easily.

After Thanksgiving we made the final push to the end of the semester. I wrapped up the two classes I was auditing, including a doctoral seminar in American religious history. I enjoyed the class thoroughly and learned a great deal from it.

During study days, Moreau Seminary hosted their annual Christmas party. Andrew and Josh were definitely the most festively dressed participants:

After a rather mild November, we finally started to experience more typical weather in December. For awhile, we wondered if it would ever snow. But right before the end of the semester we did indeed get an inch or two - just barely enough for our freshmen from Southern climes to be impressed. Here, Bryan (who's from Houston, Texas) does a little "snowboarding" on the hill next to Old College:

As final exams were starting, I finished the last of my applications. I ultimately applied to ten graduate programs, including Penn, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Virginia, Georgetown, Boston College, Fordham and Catholic University. (Now the waiting game begins - I won't hear back from schools until the middle of February at the earliest. Please continue to pray for me!).

Because it's technically illegal, I won't mention by name the friend who supplied this lovely sampling of Oregon brews - but you know who you are. After my applications were finally finished, these provided just the right measure of celebration:

With classes and applications both finished I finally felt like I was ready for Christmas. Thankfully, Old College was delightfully decorated for the season. Fr. Kevin's parents came for a visit during the Thanksgiving break and set up an amazing Nativity display. It took up a whole corner of the Sorin Study, and included a lighted "starry night" background, and multiple layers of display platforms:

As you can see, the windows on Fifth Avenue don't have anything on this display! The historically accurate display includes a Roman legion going out to take the census . . .

. . . a tent for the shepherds . . .

. . . and, of course, the purpose of the Nativity scene, the Lord's manger:

I also decorated my room with a little tree, some miniature Peanuts ornaments . . .

. . . and some nice holiday lights:

During final weeks, I hosted a little study break social in my room complete with Christmas music and cookies. Of course, it was more of an 'open house' since no more than four or so people can fit in my room at one time!

As the men of Old College departed for Chrismtas break, I stayed behind to wrap-up loose ends, and watch the Notre Dame basketball team defeat UCLA. It turns out I was lucky: had I tried to travel on Saturday, I would have been turned back by the East coast blizzard. But as it turned out, I traveled home on Sunday without any trouble whatsoever, landing in Newark only one hour late. I'm looking forward to seeing family, relaxing, reading, and sleeping!