D17 got home on 12/14 and spent a couple of weeks with us. She has gone overseas for her college-sponsored initiative from 12/29 - 1/18. Back to college on 1/21.
@MaineLonghorn not sure if you were referring to my post in saying that was the longest break you had heard of, but it’s actually just a couple of days over 6 weeks, which is a normal amount of time. It just took place mostly in December instead of January!
My daughter goes to Willamette and they are on semesters. She got home on 12/14 (had a remote final from home on 12/15) and goes back on MLK day, although she’s planning to drive back a few days earlier (she lives off campus so can go back whenever she wants). We had a family trip to visit grandparents and now are skiing, and next week will be the fun of a dentist visit and possibly the optometrist if we can get a last-minute appointment.
SIX WEEKS? That’s a long break. Maybe it’s normal in your neck of the woods… it the only ones with six week breaks around here are those who have a winter session…that is included in the break.
My us and and I never had more than 3 weeks off, and our kids have never had more than 3 weeks off between the fall and spring term.
DS came home about December 20 or so…and went back about January 14.
DD came home about the 15 of December and always had to be back the Monday after New Years.
Our state flagship has a winter break that is usually about 4 weeks in length. I thought I would share something we have done that others might want to consider.
When our oldest was a senior, my husband planned a graduation gift trip that began on New Year’s and went almost 3 weeks. He took her to Australia with a long layover in China and short stay in New Zealand. (I stayed home with our son and the dog.). They primarily went for the Australian Open in Melbourne…they are tennis players and love the sport…but were able to visit Beijing, Brisbane, Sydney and Queenstown.
It allowed my husband to spend quality one-on-one time with her and created special memories for a lifetime. We appreciate the gift of time the long Winter Break provided, especially now that we see how busy she is as a consultant. It took a long time to plan so I recommend starting early.
D18 got home on 12/14 and goes back 1/6. Classes start back on 1/8. She’s happy to see friends but not ready to start classes again. My oldest D is also visiting this week so it’s been nice to have a full house.
I will enjoy the last few months with S19 before he heads off next year.
My D came home on 12/15 and was back on campus to stay on 1/2. She’s doing winter session…an honors study away in Mexico.
S18 got home for break on 12/12 and returns to school in Los Angeles on 1/6. It’s been nice having him home, but it would not be nice (at least for me) if he spent his summer the way he has spent his break. Much more structure needed over the summer!!
Let’s see Freshman finished her last exam and I picked her up on 12/13. She goes back 1/13 to start classes on the 14th.
Senior1 (same school) finished on 12/14 and has no classes on Mondays so technically I could take her back on 1/14. I might agree to that as she is on a 9 day cruise until 1/12.
Senior2 finished on classes on 12/12, but is an RA and had to stay until 12/15. She goes back on 1/18 for more RA stuff and starts school on 1/21.
The really nice thing about the early week for School1 and later week for School2 is that graduation will also be a week difference so there’s no splitting up the family to cover both events!
Son came in 14 dec leaving on Sunday YAy! Lol yeah I’m tired of his “i’m An adult now”. I’m hoping he’ll be back next Christmas ?
Mine left school on the 15th with her boyfriend and they arrived here on the 16th. They left here on the 3rd and are back at school. Classes don’t start until next week (Tuesday or Wednesday?) but my daughter is the pianist for an upcoming musical play and she needed to get back for rehearsals. They enjoyed themselves with lots of walking around the city and eating Asian foods as much as possible in all of the little hole in the wall places. They also did a fair amount of shopping. We really enjoyed having them here and miss them already. We are looking forward to learning graduate school application results as well as graduation in May.
I picked my girl up the day before Thanksgiving, and dropped her back off at school on 1/1 for winter term classes that began on 1/2. This year, with a quarter schedule, they have a D-term - where she chose not to take a class - so she had about 2 weeks of “pure” vacation, followed by full-time weeks of the job she held last summer. The college is transitioning to a “regular” semester schedule next year, so working during breaks may be more difficult - but luckily they like her, so fingers crossed!
Son home for about 3 weeks and daughter for like 5. So “when does your student go back”… Not soon enough 
We like being empty nesters… Lol.
^My D comes in like a tornado…I enjoy the first couple of days, endure the rest, and then miss her terribly when she’s gone lol.
My D had a very short break. She came back from study abroad a couple days before Christmas and is back on campus already to move into her apartment and get settled. Classes start on Jan 9th. She spent her short break hanging out with family with a short trip to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl and New Years. It was too short.
D and I went to see “Mary Poppins” last night. We chuckled at all the mother-daughter pairs we saw in the theater! We weren’t the youngest or oldest pair. I love doing stuff like this with her. I have to admit, I’m kind of happy most of her friends have already gone back to school so she’ll spend more time with me! 
Although S17 is my youngest, my three older sons all still live at home, so I’ve never been an empty nester. One nice thing about this winter break is that sons 2 and 3 finally seem to be treating S17 as an equal, as opposed to their pesty little brother. They invited him to join them for New Year’s Eve and they had a blast. I will miss him terribly when he goes back. We have gotten into a groove over the past few months where I text him the final Jeopardy clue and we both try to guess it. The other day, I wasn’t home from work yet and he texted me the clue. We are going to try to keep this going when he returns to school.
^Love your Jeopardy tradition! D and I share laughs about “The Bachelor” as our tradition, ha. Glad it’s starting up again next week!
I doubt the timing for winter break length has to do with weather. Instead, the timing has to do with finishing first semester/quarter before the winter holidays and restarting at a time that works for spring finishes and summer sessions.