Recently I’ve come to the realization that I make it impossible for people to get me gifts. Last year I wrote an article joking that the reason I’m hard to shop for is that everything I want doesn’t exist, but in reality it is because I constantly buy things for myself that I want. In fact, just last week I dropped close to $50 bucks on comics merchandise for myself – two weeks before Christmas. The worst part is that a few days prior my girlfriend had asked what I wanted for the holiday, and my answer was “I don’t really need anything.”

By Rachel Rufenacht
r-rufenacht.1@onu.edu
Week 10 is commonly referred to as “dead” week by the ONU students; but fall quarter, I did not participate in those final sessions with the rest of my classmates. Instead, I was “dead” tired, working hard to build a technical school in Lanzac, Haiti.
On Nov. 10, at 2:30 a.m., I left Defiance, Ohio, with 17 other members of my church to travel over 1,700 miles in 15 hours. Our mission: to share the love of Jesus with the Haitian people.

By Bethany Miller
b-miller.11@onu.edu
While Christmas lights are being hung and carols sung, some families in Hardin County will be able to celebrate Christmas this year in a special way - through the generosity of complete strangers.
Every year around Christmas, families all over the nation who have fallen on hard times, possibly because of layoffs or sudden illness, rely on Giving Trees as a source of hope and joy during the holiday season.

By Lauren Littleton
l-littleton@onu.edu
This year, Hanukkah will begin at sundown on Dec. 21. Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days and nights, beginning on the twenty-fifth of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar, which is November to December on the Gregorian calendar.
On each night of Hanukkah, the menorah is lit to commemorate a miracle that occurred after the Jews proclaimed victory over the Syrian armies in 165 B.C.E.

By Kaitlin Durbin
k-durbin@onu.edu
Seeking feedback on the newly formed Faith Lift service, held Wednesday mornings at 11 a.m., ONU Chaplain Vern LaSala conducted a survey.
The survey comprised of eight questions was designed to allow staff to evaluate the effectiveness and popularity of the program. All answers were categorized into different headings (helpful, not helpful, needs improvements, etc.) and used to determine how the students were receiving the program, and if it was something that should be continued in following years.

By Kaitlin Durbin
k-durbin@onu.edu
ONU collected 1,420 pounds of non-perishable goods as part of the “Cans Across America” food drive, hosted by the Sodexo, Inc. food industry.
Sodexo, the food service in charge of ONU’s cafeteria dining, has virtually waged war against world hunger.
To jump start their fight, they initiated the nation-wide food drive in which over 530 college campuses, as well as 200 senior centers and hospitals, arrange to collect cans over a 24 hour period.

By Lauren Roberts
l-roberts@onu.edu
On Friday, Dec. 12, various organizations across the ONU campus will be belting out ballads, rocking out, and, most importantly, raising their voices for a good cause at the annual Kappa Phi Sing-A-Thon.  
Kappa Phi, Ohio Northern’s Christian Women’s Service Club, will be hosting the 24 hour singing marathon at 5 p.m. in the McIntosh Activities Room.  
Kappa Phi Service Officer, Bri Clark, hopes the event will garner a diverse turnout.  

By Megan Tritch
m-tritch@onu.edu
Advent begins on the first Sunday after Thanksgiving, or four Sundays before Christmas. In Western Christianity, it is the beginning of the liturgical year. The liturgical color for Advent is purple, the same as that for Lent.
Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ. The focus is supposed to be on the second coming of Christ that Christians are waiting for.
Some people mistakenly focus on the coming of Christ as an infant.

By Bethany Miller
b-miller.11@onu.edu
“If you have a river and you have, for example a shirt, and you wash it five times a day, that shirt will be all the time clean right?” asks Khalid Al-Olimat, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and adviser of the Muslim Student Association.
This is the metaphor he uses to explain the reason behind the five daily prayers Muslims are required to perform. Al-Olimat says that just as with the shirt being washed, if you pray five times a day, you will be purified, and your sins will be wiped away.

By Leah Thompson
l-thompson.1@onu.edu
“I hate ambiguity.  It sucks.”
Those in the English Chapel laughed as Lisa Robeson, interim dean for the Getty College of Arts and Sciences, shared this sentiment at Wednesday’s Faith Lift.  Robeson’s dry sense of humor drew her audience to her words as she shared the story of her faith.