“Twelve Days of Christmas” is a song about the Christmas season with the annoying “Partridge in a Pear tree” refrain. This year, however, 12 days means the number of days off for winter break. What to do?

On the first day of winter break I dedicated one day of homework time.

You will probably wait until the last day of winter break to do all the homework that teachers have assigned over break. Instead, knock it out on the first day. Have a plan to do all the homework that you can do in less than 30 minutes first. Then, work on the homework that with be time-consuming like essays, projects, and reading for class. The longer projects might have to be spread out over a couple of days. Just make sure you follow your schedule and don’t get distracted. You will enjoy your winter break more if you don’t have to worry about the homework you should be doing.

On the second day of winter break I took two long naps.

Take advantage of the long break and  get caught up on sleep from getting up early for school. You deserve it. We are almost done the first semester of the school year. A couple of days before the end of break you should start to go to bed when you normally do and get up earlier because then you won’t be so tired when you come back to school on January 4th.

On the third day of winter break I spent three hours with family.

Turn off the Play Station, Xbox, computer and spend time with your family. Either take turns watching everyone’s favorite movie or playing board games. Or even go shopping since there will be good deals going on. Do anything that brings everyone together and puts a smile on everyone’s faces.

On the fourth day of winter break I cleaned out my closet/room for four hours.

Since each December you have been getting and giving gifts. The best way to make sure you have room to store all the new items is to store them in a cleaned out closest. If there are clothes that you don’t like any more or are too small you should donate them to a charity or a consignment shop instead of throwing them away. Make a clean start for the New Year.

Before you put the new stuff away, write some thank you notes.

On the fifth day of winter break I saw five movie.

“Remember…the force will be with you, always” is Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. If you haven’t already seen the movie early or even camped out on Christmas Eve, then you should see it. It came out on Dec. 18th, but by now, hopefully, the theater won’t be so packed. Here are a list of movies that will be coming out while we are on break. On Dec. 25th The Hateful Eight (R), Joy (PG-13), Point Break, Daddy’s Home (PG-13), Concussion (PG-13), The Revenant (R), and 45 Years (R).

On the sixth day of winter break I baked six dozen cookies.

Here is the most easiest cookie recipe ever. It is a cookie brownie with amazing texture and goodness. If you want more fun recipes to take to parties, then visit Lancer Media Kitchen.

Yield: 30 cookies

Ingredients:

1 box Milk Chocolate Brownie Mix

¼ cup of butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

1 large egg

2 tsp. water

chocolate candies

Direction:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl combine all ingredients, not including chocolate candies. Dough may fill dry, but that is how it is suppose to be. Drop 1 tsp. onto the cookie sheet. Make sure they are 2” apart. Bake for 11 minutes or until the edges are set. If they appear undone that is okay.
2. Before you transfer to a wire rack press chocolate candies into the cookies. Then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

On the seventh day of winter break I went out with seven friends.

Frederick as a lot of things to do with friends. There is laser tag, Shadowland or Adventure Park USA, indoor amusement park. If it is not too cold, you can walk the different towns and shop locally. There are plenty of malls that are in the area. You can even host parties that each person bring a food that you all try.

On the eighth day of winter break I binge watched eight TV shows.

Here are the top eight TV shows that E! News has recommended.

1. How To Get Away With Murder (15 episodes) ABC
2. The 100 (29 episodes) The CW
3. Empire (10 episodes) Fox
4. Games of Thrones (39 episodes) HBO
5. Scandal (62 episodes) ABC
6. Sherlock (9 episodes) BBC
7. House of Cards (39 episodes) Netflix 
8. Fargo (9 episodes) FX

On the ninth day of winter break I earned nine service hours.

What a great way to spend your winter break than helping other  people? This is a great time to get caught up on your community service hours that you need for honor societies or clubs or for college resumes. There are plenty of way to show people that you care. Go to a nursing home and sit and talk to them or even go a elder’s house in your neighborhood. All they want is conversation. You can clean a park that is near you. Remember it is the time of giving.

On the tenth day of winter break I read ten amazing books.

According to Goodreads here are the top ten young adult books that were published in 2015.

1. Winter (The Lunar Chronicles, #4) by Marissa Meyer
2. Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4) by Sarah J. Mass
3. A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1) by Sarah J. Mass
4. Red Queen (Red Queen, #1) by Victoria Aveyard
5. The Heir (The Selection, #4) by Kiera Cass
6. End of Days (Penryn and End of Day, #3) by Susan Ee
7. Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles, # 3.5) by Marissa Meyer
8. The Ruby Circle (Bloodlines, #6) by Richelle Mead
9. An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1) by Sabaa Tahir
10. P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, #2) by Jenny Han

On the seventh day of winter break I made eleven resolutions.

Every year we come up with resolutions that we normally do until March when we give up on. Here are eleven that should be easy to accomplish and to hold for the rest of the year.

1. Reduce stress
2. Save money
3. Get good grade
4. Get more sleep
5. Reduce media time
6. Work harder
7. Make new friends
8. Eat healthy
9. Give back to the community
10. Join a club/sport team
11. Stop procrastinating and write those thank you notes.

On the twelfth day of winter break I wanted to go back in time 12 days ago.

If you didn’t get a chance to do any of the items above, then you have one day to do everything you want to do. See you next year.