I drove to winder in the rain for an H&R block meeting that started at 930. It's still dark until pretty late, especially with the rain. I had to eat breakfast, make something for the holiday luncheon, get dressed and leave the house by 9. I really wanted to get in a walk, too. By 830, I had eaten and cookies were in the oven, but I didn't have much time for a walk. My walk is pretty important, but maybe not more than a bath...the cookies were in the freezer, so they just had to be arranged on cookie sheets and baked.

I managed about 15 minutes walk and clocked in one minute late. People were still wandering around and the meeting didn't start for a while. I did drive a little faster than usual, cutting about 4 minutes from my drive time. I ordinarily enjoy my leisurely back roads route, but I was happy to be on time. Joan had made snacks for us, candied nuts and popcorn...I managed to eat quite a lot as the meeting crawled along.

At 1230, we clocked out and began the festivities: several kinds of pasta, iceberg lettuce with commercial dressing, and 4 kinds of store bought dessert...2 cookies, 1 pecan pie, 1 cake, and some beautiful homemade cupcakes that were burned on the bottom. I don't think anyone tasted my cookies, but that's fine. I am happy to have them home.

After that was the gift exchange. A fair amount of coffee cups and chocolate, with a smattering of interesting options...a couple of fleecy blanket/throws, a hot dog toaster, an electric neck massager...I got a bottle of stress relieving bubble bath, which is fine...nothing electric for me!