Happy Hanukkah. Merry Christmas. Good Kwanzaa. Despite the various salutations that are necessary to remain culturally sensitive these days, I refuse to be one of the non-committal pansies that resort to Happy Holidays.

In the land of LSAT students and law school applicants, the holidays can be a very busy time of year.

First, LSAT scores are coming. Soon. As always, LSAC has estimated that scores will be released sometime in mid-2012, but they will inevitably beat those time estimates. This year is a little hard to predict because Christmas falls on the day that scores would normally be released. As much as you may be convinced that the people at LSAC live in dark holes and do nothing but discuss various theories related to the extinction of the dinosaurs, they probably do have some version of a family and this will prevent them from unveiling scores on Christmas. (Also, sending scores out on Christmas would only add to the legends of the torture that LSAC inflicts on LSAT takers. I mean, can you imagine the terror of getting that email within hours of Santa dropping off the presents? Not cool.) My best guess is that scores will surface on Thursday or next Monday. If you are waiting for your score, this will clearly have a strong effect on your holiday spirit. A good score could be better than the puppy that you got when you were nine. A 132 might have you cursing Santa.

Second, application season is in full swing. Personal statements are being agonized over, letters of recommendation are being begged for, and excuses for that freshman year GPA are being invented. Between the holidays and applications, it’s easy for LSAT study to get lost in the shuffle. But now is not the time to lose focus.

A while back, I wrote a post about how to study over the Thanksgiving break.

Well, now it is winter break. And it clearly deserves some LSAT exercises of its own. So here are some quick drills that I came up with to keep your brain sharp in between the eggnog and mind-numbing carols.

1. Nothing Says Chrismakwanzukkah like… illegitimate children

Okay, this has very little to do with the holidays. One could actually argue that this is the antithesis of the holiday spirit. But it is kinda hilarious.

Check out this list. Shawn Kemp… sure, that is common knowledge. But Scott Skiles? Randy Johnson?

This list can make the basis for one hell of an Ordering game. Here are the constraints. Try to order these athletes according to their monthly paternity payments. But this is not as simple as it may seem. This must take into account not just number of illegitimate children fathered, but also be a measure of their current and past income. For instance, Dwight Howard might only have one illegitimate child but he is making big bucks these days, whereas the infamous Shawn Kemp (somewhere between 9 and 11 children from somewhere between 8 and 9 women) is most likely broke these days.

As you can quickly tell, this is way more complicated than any Logic Game. Good luck.

2. Anticipation is key

In Logical Reasoning (and other sections), anticipation is critical. Well, you can challenge yourself to use the same skills around gift opening time.

You know what your aunt got for your sister, or what your brother bought for your mom. So now it is time to use those keen skills of anticipation to predict the reactions of the giftees.

Older sister has a hideous sweater coming from grandma. Here is an educated guess as to her reactions, in order. Awkward smile. Show the sweater to the crowd. Stand and hug. Joke about really needing a new sweater. Uncomfortable laugh. Return to seat. Three heavy swigs of eggnog to dull the pain. If you can ace this, Strengthen questions are going to be a breeze.

On an actual note, make sure to get some studying in over the winter break. Don’t stress yourself out but some Logical Reasoning mixed in with that fruitcake will make for a really satisfying combo.

Oh, and…. Happy Holidays!