Christmas: Mercyhurst Style!

Me and My Roommates (Eric, Andrew, and Joe)

Me and Rhona B. 

It's Christmas time at the 'Hurst that is for sure, and one thing that my group of friends and I do that has become a holiday tradition is our annual Christmas party. Last year we starting doing a gift exchange with our group of friends and yesterday was the day the dinner and gift give-a-way took place! All of us dressed up semi-formal for dinner at a local favorite "The Brewerie".

Aldyn S. and Me

In total, there were 16 of us decked-out in our holiday best! We had dinner and then quickly drove back to my apartment for the gift exchange! Today was also the first really good snowfall of the season, so it was a perfect night for a holiday party. We came back and began opening gifts. I was very happy to see that my secret Santa bought me a new pair of slippers which will totally come in handy during the cold nights in Erie! Everyone had a great night and we celebrated with pictures, cookies, and a movie! The saying is really true, "the friends you make in college you will have for a lifetime". I know that these friends are my best friends. We are crazy and funny and I would not change them for anything!

Mr. and Mrs Santa Claus!

The second part of Christmas cheer that happened this weekend actually just happened today! I was asked with one of my good friends Meghan H. to dress up and play Santa and Mrs. Claus for our annual Christmas on Campus at Mercyhurst College. More than 100 local children were treated to milk and cookies, games, crafts, storytelling, and of course a visit from Mr. and Mrs Claus! Meghan and I had such a wonderful time playing the part of the jolly couple, and I am very happy that we could bring some holiday spirit and Christmas cheer to some children that may night have had the chance to go and meet Santa and Mrs. Claus. I hope that I did a good enough job to play Santa next year, we will see! So what do you all think, did we make a convincing Mr. and Mrs. Claus?
Throughout this Christmas Season, just remember to Carpe Diem, no matter how you do it!


~Jeremy

Ambassador's Chrisgiving

Sarah B, Me, and Aldyn S. at Chrisgiving!

So today was the annual Ambassador's Chrisgiving, which is a holiday party that the Ambassador club has after Thanksgiving and before Christmas to get everyone into the holiday spirit. Every year, the theme of the party is "ugly sweater". It is really fun to see everyone dressed in their best ugly Christmas attire! Last year I really didn't do anything special, I just had a really (I mean so ugly) ugly sweater. This year, I wanted to do something a little more festive! So of course because I am a college student, I waited until the day before the party to put an outfit together...which may have actually worked out in my favor! Rhona and I went to the local Salvation Army to find some great outfits, and give back to others. While at "SalVo" I found the PERFECT sweater. In addition to the sweater I collected other wonderful pieces of Christmas cheer to make my "Mercy-Elf" costume even better!

Me, Rhona B. and Lindsay C. sporting our holiday outfits

The final product was an elf hat, an oversized sweater with tinsel and bells, and my TOMS shoes which I sewed bells on to make the perfect elf shoes! Although I was super excited to show off my Christmas cheer, the feeling quickly subsided when I walked across Mercyhurst campus "jingling all the way"! At the actual party, it was nice to socialize with the other Ambassadors, see everyone's outfits, and meet the new Ambassador pledges. After everyone feasted on turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and desserts, it was time for the voting of the "ugliest outfits". I honestly did not think my ensemble was "in the running towards becoming Mercyhurst Ambassador's next ugly Christmas outfit", so I was not really bothered in paying attention to the whole voting. Much to my surprise, the social committee voted myself, and Nathan K. as the ugly outfit winners. In addition, Paige B. and Adam F. were winners for their combined outfit of "grandma got run-over by a reindeer"! All in all, it was a very great night and I loved hanging out with all the Mercyhurst Ambassadors. I'm going to have to start planning my costume for next year...what will it be....?

Me, Nathan K., Adam F. and Paige B. the winners of the "ugly outfits"!

Carpe Diem, no matter what!
~Jeremy

Happy Holidays: From Wayne 132

Mercyhurst Colored Christmas Tree

So my roommates and I are back at the Hurst and are very excited to start a new academic term. The winter term sometimes gets a bad rap, but it is actually my favorite term out of all three of them! So while most students would be relaxing their last couple of days before the term starts, my roommates and I could not resist getting into the holiday spirit. Today we decorated out entire apartment in Christmas cheer. So as you can imagine, being an apartment of four guys we are already at a creative difficulty when it comes to decorating, but in the end our apartment turned out looking really great! The first thing we did was set up the Christmas tree. Our tree is just a little artificial one with lights, blue snowflakes and silver garland. We couldn't all decide on (or find for that matter) an appropriate tree topper, so we settled on a Santa hat for the top of our tree.

Christmas in our living room. 

After adding the finishing touches on our Christmas tree, it was time to cover the living room and kitchen in lights. Again, we really don't actually know what we are doing when it comes to decorating, so you will see what a crazy Christmas mess our apartment is in. We added white lights to the ceiling of our living and dinning room area. Since we were not really sure how to do the lights, my roommate Joe suggested we just zigzagged them back and forth along the ceiling. The finish project looks pretty good if I say so myself!

The "Christmas" Kitchen 

As if that was not enough lights in one college apartment, we added even more lights to the kitchen and counter areas. At this point, we ran out of traditional white lights and went for a more "green" outlet and added brightly colored LED lights (Mercyhurst is a very green campus so we are just doing our part). The finished project is one very VERY decked for the holidays Mercyhurst College apartment. Even though sometimes guys get flack when it comes to decorating, my college roommates and I did a great job of jumping "snow boots" first into the holiday season!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas, Carpe Diem everyday!
~Jeremy