Preparing

It is so quiet this morning. Menfolks are sleeping and I am in bed too, playing with this new laptop. After a long, roundabout journey of a month, it finally arrived. A backlog of orders, snow and a clueless UPS delayed delivery for days. But all is well at last and after such travails the machinf actually works. Amazing.

Like most of you, I will be busy with cooking and cleaning today. The gifts are wrapped and under the tree so all that's left to do is make a mess in the kitchen. Mincemeat tarts, pies, and maybe a cheesecake, and a couple batches of cookies are on the schedule. We'll see what gets done. Mostly I want to listen to Christmas carols and enjoy the quiet of this country place, the snow still covering the ground and my youngest son who is home for the holiday.

One thought to leave you with before I get busy:Christmas is for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. --Washington Irving

Merry Christmas Eve, friends!