Can't anyone stop the clock....please?

I am running out of time. I mean, desperately running out of time. The good news is that today was my last day of class. I had good classes this semester but it's nice to have that load off my shoulders for a month before the new semester begins. The bad news: I have not done one stitch of Christmas shopping. I have not handed out one Christmas card. I have not done any baking or even thought about what to give neighbors and friends. And I won't be able to think about it until at least Tuesday because my newspaper deadline is Monday and I haven't even started on the seven stories I'm supposed to write. (Don't tell my editor.) Considering Christmas is less than two weeks away, this could become a serious problem.

However, today I did one thing that made my day. In my adolescent literature class, we have been discussing a novel about a young girl who is severely (and I mean horribly...it's the stuff of nightmares) abused. She educates herself, moves into a halfway house for young mothers and starts to turn her life around. Since my group had to do a four-day presentation on the book, my study partner Deanne and I decided to have the director of YWCA Teen Home, Bree Murphy, speak to our class about the pregnant and parenting teens that live in the home and the challenges they face. She spoke to the class on Tuesday, and some of the students were interested to know how to volunteer or donate to the home. Bree suggested diapers, wipes, entertainment items for the mothers, formula, etc., and the professor said anyone who wanted to donate could bring those items to class today.

The response was overwhelming, and I am so in awe of my classmates. By the end of class today, there were bags and bags of things to take to Teen Home. Andy, one of the burly men in my class, had to help me load everything into my car. When I dropped everything off this afternoon, the staff was so excited about all the stuff that had been donated. It was fabulous! Thank you so much to Metcalf's English 5885 class! You guys are an example of the true spirit of Christmas!