After the whirlwind of the past few days, today and yesterday have been wonderfully quiet, giving us the chance to do the usual Christmas activities. Yesterday morning, Laura, Stephen, and I decorated the house for Christmas: not very much, but something, at least, to make it more festive. Stephen helped me hang the evergreens over the doorway into the dining room and then handed up ornaments for me to hang on the bristling plastic branches. Ornaments made faithfully for us every year by Grandma, cross-stitched or needlepointed, including the silver angel with her long, slender trumpet that always goes in the middle of the doorway.

This morning Laura and I baked gingerbread, a process that involved a lot more faffing about than was strictly necessary. We always use the Joy of Cooking recipe, but for some reason Laura has never realized that the recipe calls for (what according to her is) a gross amount of flour. That led to a lot of silliness. In the end we got the batter made and the cookies cut out, baked, cooled, and iced, all while listening to The Nutcracker. Now the house smells like cloves, cinnamon, and ginger.

And tonight: Christmas ball in Ponca City!