This morning when I woke up at 4:45, I was finally able to go back to sleep and wake up closer to 7. Much better. I wonder what is happening every morning at 4:45 that is waking me up--a train? dog barking?

It rained a goodly amount yesterday, starting with a light rain as we left UUFA. By late afternoon and evening, it was much heavier and steady, perfect for the garden. It was dark all day, but we got it warmed up with the woodstove and some cooking.

I baked a few more cookies in the morning and took it all to the bake sale: ginger cookies, banana  bread, brownies, orange muffins, and whole wheat oatmeal apple cookies. I thought maybe I would have something to bring home if it didn't sell, but it was gone by the time I checked, even though there were still some items the others had made. We performed our Peanuts skit, and it went quite well. It was well received, although I didn't feel it was my best work. I particularly blew one line where I told Linus to get rid of that stupid Christmas blanket...Kent and Becky came and so did my Dad. The seven of us went to lunch at DePalma's.

When I looked at the specials and saw blackberry cheesecake, I determined to order just soup and salad, so I could have that for dessert. I didn't eat any bread... we had a really nice time. I also had an old fashioned and a little wine.

We did some more present wrapping and now have two boxes ready to ship this morning. I invited Elisa's liaison, Joerg, to stay for dinner when he brought her back from Buford. Then Ray and I did some serious cleaning up, including work in the study, even though he wouldn't see it. I had already planned to make something with the rest of the sausage from the breakfast pancakes. It was a sort of mock cassoulet with white beans, carrots, a little wine...Then I had three green tomatoes I had bought at the farmer's market before Thanksgiving and stuck in the fridge when we went away. I made fried green tomatoes and they were quite good. We even put together an apple crisp and put it in the oven. We lit the three candles on the advent wreath. When Joerg and his wife dropped Elisa off, they didn't stay to eat, but we had a nice dinner, and now we have some leftovers. Elisa showed us her purchases.

We had dinner ready early, so Ray and I watched more TV than usual and still went to bed before 10.