4:15 am. I wake up. I am surprised to notice my stuffy nose and sore throat. I guess that means my cold is getting better, not the first thing on my mind. I lie in bed awhile, thinking about everything and waiting to see if maybe I will go back to sleep. I get up. Outside, the moon is casting shadows of the trees and the chicken coop. Although it is supposed to be below freezing outside, it is comfortable in here.

Yesterday morning, I finished making the 48 mini-quiches in the toaster oven and they are now in the freezer, waiting to be heated up for Molli's engagement party on Sunday. Amelia wanted to go do some shopping at the mall. I tried to convince her that we should buy locally, but looking for men's dress shirts seemed to point to Macy's. George Gibson's is a wonderful men's store, but buying something there would cost more than twice as much. Many times, she buys used at Goodwill and other thrift stores, but not for hard-to-fit men at Christmas time. I bought a couple things too. Then she was off to lunch with Becky and Kevin at the Grit, her favorite vegetarian restaurant.

I began working on supper, bread, soup and pie. My Mom made the pie crust. I called Amelia to pick up a squash for the soup. I baked the bread in the two toaster ovens, one loaf in each. When Amelia got home, we engaged in the traditional Christmas tree hunt. It must be tall and full enough for our two-story living room. We have lots of decorations for it. We circle around, looking at promising trees. None of them is making Amelia say, "this is it." She would keep looking, but we settle on one. It is much too tall, but we only want the top half. Ray and Amelia and my Dad take turns with the saw. The dog runs around. We drag it back to the house, but we still need to make room for it. We decide we will take one of the cars out of the garage and move some of the furniture out there. But enough for today.

We eat supper and talk about the menu for the next few days. We watch TV. Amelia knits on a project for a Christmas present. The pie is tasty. Molli calls from Mexico. She and Adrian are very excited to be coming here tomorrow! I fall asleep.