Captain took Vanessa to yoga and they went out to breakfast. Made oatmeal for Amelia and me and the chickens.

The three of us drove to Five Points and ate lunch at the Add Drug counter (good and cheap). Ray chatted with the three-year-old next to him, who was with her mother and younger sister. They were having pajama day. They do not celebrate Christmas, but Hanukah and Devali (a Hindu holiday of lights). Apparently, their Mom is Jewish and their Dad Indian, judging by their looks and this information. Her name is Nora and she was not shy about talking to Ray. They all enjoyed it. I had a cheeseburger and I ate a few of Amelia and Ray's fries. Then we bought a few things at EarthFare,
Baked two kinds of cookies at Janna's house, the butter-nut chip icebox cookies and a new kind, double-chocolate. Poor Janna is sicker than I am, not leaving the couch for the most part. We brought her a sandwich (BLT) and gave her a taste of the cookies and talked some about the menu. But she had to correct some more papers before turning in the grades at 5. Amelia did all the baking and I looked at Janna's Entertaining book by Martha Stewart. Lots of neat party menus and pictures of Martha when she was much younger (with her staff). In some ways, she seems like the heir to Julia Child.

At two, we went home and froze the cookies. Amelia began working on a green and red Christmas dress she is making for a friend's daughter. I had a call from the repair service. They have the part back and would put it in today. This would at least allow us to use our stove top again. However, in the meantime, Thermador has said they are mailing me a new part directly (didn't say anything about the cost), together with shipping information for returning the old one. So, I told them to hold onto it until I get the new one. Unfortunately, they had not ordered the element (thinking we would not be able to use it, since we wouldn't have the control panel). So, no telling how long that will take. The irony is I might be able to have a working oven for Christmas, if they had the second part. The lesson is, never give up (I guess). It's still not fixed, but I am cautiously hopeful.

I mixed the dough for the mini-quiche crusts and made half of them (24) in two batches in the toaster-oven! Ray supposedly froze them before he came to bed. I also made Roman rice and beans and Vanessa made asparagus soup (sadly Amelia doesn't like asparagus). It was tasty! And I had a bourbon hot toddy from the party book. It was tasty too--bourbon, honey, lemon and cloves and hot water. Medicinal, of course.

Yesterday was cloudy and rainy. It was warmer, almost 50 at its warmest, but not pleasant. We kept the stove going, but it wasn't always warm enough for Vanessa.