m&m

jump-roper doubles over, swinging both hands and rope between legs.  Hands go out to the sides to allow the rope to make a full turn around the jumper, who jumps over the rope once.  Jumper exits by pulling rope out backwards, standing upright, and beginning a backwards jump.

While primarily being a jump-rope trick, m&m's also happen to be a candy!  Who knew?!?!

Also, Christmas is coming! Did you know that either?

But any-who, what's really important, and what I'm trying to get around to talking about here, is what you get when you put candy and Christmas together. Do you know what that is?

Gingerbread houses.

I love gingerbread houses.  They are the second best Christmas invention-decorations on the face of planet earth. (Of course, the nativity sets are the best Christmas decorations)

This year my loving mother let me decorate my own gingerbread house.  All.  By.  My.  Self.  I was so super-duper excited. More excited than words can even express.

Have you ever decorated a gingerbread house?  Not like the pile-on-the-candy-and-make-it-as-fast-as-possible kind of decorating.  I mean REALLY decorated one.  This means planning out each step and deliberately placing every gumdrop, m&m, licorice strand, pretzel, candy cane, marshmallow, and hard candy.  It takes patience to decorate a gingerbread house like that.  Mine, pictured below, took three hours to decorate.

Got that?  Three hours.

Front

Back

The Snowball Fort

There are many wonderful things about gingerbread houses.  First, the smell.  The molassesy-sugary-goodness makes for one of the best Christmas smells ever, right up there next to oranges, cinnamon, sugar cookies, and peppermint.

The second great part of gingerbread houses is the decorating and creativity.  I love to decorate for the holidays and to show my artistic side.  Gingerbread houses present the perfect opportunity for artistic liberties--especially in the details.  My house, for example, has four hand-crafted licorice bows; the snowman in the front yard has a modified-gumdrop face; a pile of snowballs in the fort were made from quartered mini-marshmallows; and each flower in the flower garden uses Mike-and-Ike's for the stem and leaves and a gumdrop for the petals.

Finally, each gingerbread house comes with its own epic story.  The gingerbread house below, at the Festival of Trees, was built and decorated by six women at the Utah State Prison over a period of 4 months.  They could only work on the house from 2am-6am and were only allowed to work on the house one person at a time.  They did the whole project without physically talking to or working with each other.  And the house was simply amazing. I think it's based on a lighthouse somewhere on the east coast. The detail on this thing was insane--the boat had little words piped on it with frosting and the boat dock was built from tiny pieces of gingerbread.

Some other gingerbread house stories might explain why there is an upside-down cinnamon Santa Clause in the front yard, or why there are only 6 & 3/4 reindeer pulling the sleigh.  These stories are highly entertaining and just as creative as the houses themselves.  My gingerbread house's story recounts the tale of an epic snowball fight that took place outside at the snowball fort.  As you might see, there's a snowball stuck on the wall between the windows, one on the striped corner piece, and, if you can see them, there's another three stuck to the front side of the fort.

The time spent on each gingerbread house is definitely worth it. Each of you guys should go make your own and see what amazing things you can come up with!

Oh Snap! I just realized something...

...I didn't use a single m&m on my gingerbread house.

Double Dutch

two ropes spin in opposite directions around a single void and alternate hitting the ground at an even pace.  Standing within this void enables a jump-roper to alternate jumping over both ropes while performing stunts.

Trying to find a place to sit on the fourth floor of the library today was like trying to jump into a Double Dutch formation.

There haven’t been this many people on the fourth floor since the first week of school!

Now, I know that finals are coming up, and that papers, projects, and presentations are soon due.  But why should those of us who have consistently studied on the fourth floor suddenly have to find a new way to sit down at a table so as not to distract all the new-comers?

I’m not trying to complain—these new-comers are quiet and respectful and they have a right to be here too.  I’m just saying things have gotten a little complicated.

This is why I felt like I was trying to enter a Double Dutch formation when I really should have been sitting down at a table.

Please note the similarities:

Entering a Double Dutch Formation

1) Decide on point of entry. Double Dutch can either be entered perpendicular to the spinning ropes or from the side at a near-parallel to the ropes approach.  If desired it can also be entered from a full parallel approach by doing a leap-frog kind of jump over one of the people turning the ropes.

2) Get the rhythm.  If you have no clue at what speed you’re going to jump after you’ve entered there’s no point in even making an attempt at an entrance.

3) Enter. Be sure to clear that first rope that takes most people by surprise.

4) Jump at the established rhythm.  Jumping too fast or slow will mess up the ropes within three seconds.  I find it easier to jump by alternating feat, rather than jumping with both feet at double speed.

Sitting at a Table Today on the Fourth Floor

1) Decide on a table.  This was extremely strange for me because usually there are open tables everywhere. And not just everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  For example, last week there were only two or three tables that were taken by one person each.  Today, not a single one was empty.  To make matters more difficult, Unspoken Rule #1 on the fourth floor is that if there are open tables one must find and sit at his or her own table.  It’s not that we can’t share our tables, it’s that we don’t like to.

2) Get the courage.  Basically you’ve got to figure out how to sit down casually, but not so casually that an I’m-already-sitting-here kind of person gets the vibe that you have no knowledge of Unspoken Rule #1. Courage and casualness has to be well planned, especially if the selected table has an attractive person of the opposite gender.

3) Enter.  Be sure to clear that first angry glare by giving a nice smile.

4) Sit down and get to work.  No eye contact with or staring at the person already at the table or else they’ll think you’re a creeper.  You’d be outta there within three seconds if someone were to keep staring at you. I found it easier to work at double speed so that I didn't feel like I was intruding on their table for too long. There are few things worse than an uninvited guest who overstays his welcome.

With all these complicated procedures I think next semester I’ll just go outside and work on my Double Dutch rather than my research paper.

Or maybe I’ll go find wherever these people came from.  They must have left someplace on campus completely empty to be able to pack a room this big completely full…