"Silent night, O holy night," when all the dorms at UT are vacant and parking is easily available. This is a sign of Christmas break, a time when we make the long, or short, drive home to celebrate the biggest holiday of the year. Students revel in this festive time of year and take a much needed break from textbooks and homework. 

For three and a half weeks students have the luxury to be in command of their own time.  So what do we do when we have no classes to eat up all of our leisure time? How do you spend your break?  Are you productive or a couch potato? What is the best way to spend a break? 

Luckily, there are no right answers to this question.  Whether you spend it in bed getting some rest and relaxation or chilling with your high school friends, the break was just what the doctor ordered after the most feared week: finals week. 

Because this is my freshman year, Christmas break was my first opportunity to return home after my longest absence from my small town.  I returned home only three times over my first semester. I expected to be shocked upon my return for break, as if I had just dipped my feet into freezing water.  Surprisingly, returning home was not as horrific an experience as I thought.  After tasting my first bit of freedom and living with no rules, coming home to a structured environment was not as jarring as I expected. 

Whether we notice it or not, we build our own walls of rules to live within.  As you get older, you will begin to admit how much your own rules overlap your parents' rules.  We have all made our 10-year-old promises to ourselves that we will never be like our parents, yet it seems inevitable.  Reflecting over my uneventful break, I noticed trends that resemble the lifestyle of my parents very much.

Returning home for breaks is meant to be an affair devoid of stress, yet many people confess to packing their time with activities and staying as busy as they are at school. Between sharing laughs with old friends and spending quality time with the family, you find your hands tied with housekeeping activities. 

If you're anything like me, you spend all semester tying bits of string around your fingers to remind yourself of something, but by the time the break comes, all those strings almost hang you in a noose.

You either waste your break doing absolutely nothing and enjoying the beauty of a simpler way of life (plus TV, snacks and the couch), or you stay extremely busy. Either way breaks do fulfill the prescription. 

For example, pretend you are five with a bad cough. Your mother comes at you with a spoonful of the most revolting cherry cough syrup, but fast forward a couple of decades.  In college, you become burned out in pursuit of academic honors and the spoonful of your hometown is the perfect remedy.  The break gives you an opportunity to recharge and prepare mentally and physically for another semester.