your 2012 guide for what to do when you're 2,300 miles away from family at christmas time : part one

well. 

1. buy candy cane joe-joe's, a baby tree, hot chocolate, and a cinnamon candle. 

2. find the happiest model train set in the middle of south station and stare at it in glee with all of the other 12 year olds 

3. take the time to decorate your baby tree and put up those lights you took from home (you know the ones, those great colored ones from grandma dee dee that adorned your family tree before your parents bought a pre-lit one). this will make for very happy nights and mornings when you go to sleep and wake up to those happy lights. 

4. take your boyfriend to go see the nutcracker because maybe you politely turned down his offer to buy tickets months earlier since you had no way of knowing you would still be dating. well, you are, and you will love everything about being at the boston opera house and seeing that great bear! 

5. go to your friends housewarming party and sit in that one chair by all the food and eat everything you possibly can (while enjoying their christmas lights and japanese nativity of course). they will not mind, you will probably arrive way after everyone else has gone home and they will probably be getting ready for bed. maybe you should feel bad about this, but you won't. 

6. spend ten hours on a bus to get down to people who need a few extra hands for the afternoon. you will be happy to do this for them and you will most likely wish you lived closer so you could help more. 

7. take photos with trees and friends who look like christmas

8. take a photo at 12:12 on 12.12.12

you only have sixty seconds to do this so word to the wise : trying to stand in the light will actually make half of your body disappear. just avoid the stress and take the photo up close the first time.

9. facetime with friends at 2 am because it is probably not as late for them. you will feel tired the next morning but you probably won't regret the decision. you should also facetime with friends on sunday afternoons while you don't watch football, this is a good use of time.

10. support a friend in a musical they are in. bring snacks for your date, he will hate this musical and be so bored that he will turn to picking up skittles off the floor and eating them to stay awake. this is a funny/gross/true story. 

11. have your florist friend take you downtown and show you the displays she created in the various hotels around the city. at this time you can also take a moment to visit phillips brooks and realize you don't actually know all the words to the song his song "o little town of bethlehem" so just hum a few chords and call it good. 

12. unsuccessfully deliver gifts to families who could use a little holiday cheer. you probably won't want to go at 10 pm on a rainy night because they might not actually respond to the doorbell which could potentially stress you out to the point where you send creepy text messages pretending to be santa's elves and demanding they open their door.  but if that does happen, no one will judge you because no one likes wet presents. 

13. go to your friend's ice skating birthday party. don't bother skating, just freeze to death on the side and watch everyone else do it. it is better that way. 

14. walk to your boyfriend's house as much as possible so you can pass this christmas dream house each time. seeing it will never get old. 

15. go to a catholic school's christmas pageant. all of your soulful church dreams will come true and your face will hurt from grinning the entire time. 

16. go see "blink!" in quincy market. it will be the best christmas tree light show you've ever seen.

17. go to lauren rollin's christmas party and tell your date to put on his ugly sweater outside in the dark so he doesn't notice it is actually for a lady. oh, and go ahead and eat all the homemade caramel her mom made, you earned it.  

18. go to rhode island and see the newport mansions all dolled up for christmas time. go on a rainy day that magically turns sunny and warm but still take your rain boots! they will come in handy. one other thing - take advantage of the self-guided listening tour and the fact that no one is around, take as many pictures as you'd like! this will be the best $28 you have ever spent. well $33, if you include the playing cards you bought to add to your collection. 

19. go on a date and walk around downtown, not only will you see pretty lights but you might just find all of your favorite friends dressed for the season!

20. the weather at times will be unbelievably pleasant so go for a walk to your favorite baby park! don't act surprised when your boyfriend is sick of you trying to take pictures though and pulls you away from it. 

21. decorate a tree, share what you are grateful for, drink hot chocolate, and fall asleep (whoops) watching the first presidency devotional. if this guide were in chronological order you would do this near the beginning of the season and not at the end. 

22. creep a famous blogger at church and tell her how you looked at her blog once during your "toddlers and tiaras" phase and appreciated that she was one for halloween. she will enjoy this story and you will become instant friends. 

..stay tuned for part two of your 2012 guide for what to do when you're 2,300 miles away from family at christmas time.