Oh the weather outside is frightful... no, nevermind

Brian bonding with ocean life while snorkeling at Managaha. The starfish here are this gorgeous, bright blue color.

It's HOT here in Saipan! It's the funniest thing to hear Christmas songs like "Let It Snow" while it's literally 85 degrees every day.

Passing around the same starfish for photo shoots with everyone- popular little guy!

This holiday season, we've been keeping busy with:

-studying, studying, studying

-finals

-Brian's second hiking club excursion- a success!

-Christmas parties

-putting the final touches on Christmas gifts, and mailing Christmas cards

- I've read the entire Harry Potter series in November and December (first time reading them- yes, they are amazing- but not my favorite books) in preparation for seeing the movie with my bro next week

-a little holiday baking. We made pumpkin bread last week and sopapillas this weekend for our Christmas party.

-Brian's still waiting for his bike to arrive on Saipan, which was shipped about 7 weeks ago. He's starting to fear that it's at the bottom of the Pacific.

-finishing my Taiwan scrapbook to show my family at Christmas.

These girls are just one of the best parts of Saipan- Laura, Kara, me, Amy, Liz, and Jen

Making tamales for our Mexican food Christmas party. We mixed the masa, spread it on the corn husks, put seasoned pork in the middle, rolled them, and transferred them to the steamer. It was a long process, but so much fun to try something new. A couple days later, they were ready for our party and they were delicious!

Brian trying on his Christmas gifts- I LOVE this cute guy

The boys in our group- Josh, Josiah, Brian, Grant, and Matt

Enjoying a great Christmas party with great friends. We went around the room and shared the Christmas traditions in each of our families, past and present, and had a White Elephant gift exchange.