Well, I made it through another week. And all the presents are wrapped, the cookies are baked, Mr. Turkey is thawing nicely in the fridge, having been sitting in the freezer since the middle of November as we weren't sure of the reliability of the food mail... We even got squash and yams from foodmail, for casserole, and I have all the ingredients for trifle except the sponge cake, and I'm off in search of that shortly.

Last night we made our usual garish Christmas cookies; blue snowmen, green stars, yellow and red Santas, etc. Molasses cookies have been made, and we have nuts and chocolate. My dad sent us Christmas crackers, as he felt we wouldn't be able to find good ones up here and he was right. We're all set.

We only got invited to two parties, one at work and one at a friend's house, we skipped the work one because of an emergency at the health center and we skipped the friend's one because we were just too tired. The Cubs Christmas party was very low-key and fun, and no-one asked me to bake for a school party. All of the things that I associate with Christmas in the city; crowded malls with Christmas hype, 'open houses' and the elaborate parties of various children's and adult's social groups, Christmas muzak everywhere, people giving us poinsettias and stuff from Starbucks, being asked to swap cookies, my parents showing up on Christmas Day with the contents of a decent-sized liquor store, all of that is non-existent here. Which has meant that I can concentrate on doing only the things that my family wants. And I'm really enjoying it. I have none of the dread that I usually feel at this time of year. We were talking about it this morning, and it's a bit like going back twenty or thirty years in time, to how I remember Christmas when I was a kid. Tomorrow we can have our dinner, and then play poker or StockTicker all evening.

Merry Christmas everyone!