I'm in that position during the holidays when i really just want to spend all my time coding something interesting and exciting but instead I'm stuck in this limbo of empty ideas and wasted time. I want to build my skills but i feel like i don't have anything i interesting enough to work on. How do you guys handle this? Help.

I do other stuff and try to figure out why I'm so obsessed with professional development. If you're putting knowledge of a tool above something you want to try, I think you should take a good long look at yourself.

There's plenty of neat programming puzzles (project euler comes to mind) if you're into working for practice's sake, but I wouldn't recommend it, too be honest. There's more to holiday breaks than computers.

@starless i think i just have to give myself a task/project and see where it goes

If you're truly lost, consider contributing to open source stuff or asking your family if they want any thing mobile apps (like a dice roller or a kitchen timer).