My husband was up early this morning and slipped out of bed so as not to wake me, but he did anyway because I�m such a light sleeper. I lay there, though, in the dark for a half hour or so enjoying the warmth of the bedcovers and the absence of people noises and the sound of the wind buffeting the house.

That was the last quiet moment of my day, though. AJ was up soon afterwards. I could hear his feet tearing around the wood floor of his room as if he were running Olympic sprints. We spent the morning in a family outing designed to get into the holiday mood, in preparation for our town's annual Christmas celebration tomorrow. We bought miles of pine garland and a wreath for the front door. We wandered around a nearby town, admiring the decorations. Then we made the mistake of walking into the toy store. My husband thought it would be fun, because AJ is always asking to go to a toy store. But taking a kid to a toy store before Christmas is pure torture. They know toys are coming, but they also know they can�t have them now. So they beg and plead and wheedle. Last year AJ was content to put things on his hypothetical Christmas list. This year, though, he seems to have lost the ability to wait more than five minutes for anything. He did not actually throw a tantrum in the store, but we all went home grumpy. Hopefully he will have recovered after his nap and we can commence the annual comedy of errors that is the hanging of the exterior Christmas lights.

It is cold and dark and gray and it looks as if it might snow at any moment � they say we may have three inches by morning. Some twinkling lights would be just about perfect today.

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I received my first communication regarding my job applications. It�s just a request to fill out an EEO form, but it�s addressed to me on official letterhead. My hat is officially in the ring.

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