A quiet cold day. I spent most of it at home. I had lots of trouble getting to sleep last night for some reason. Chelsea got me up at 3:30AM again. I took her out and went back to bed with the door closed as I have been doing. It was 6:30AM before I woke up again. Then I took a nap at about 9 so0 I felt pretty good the rest of the day.

It was nice being home. I cleaned a bit, and cooked a bit and sewed a bit. Critters like it when I am here. They will be doubly glad when Dick is here.

I had to go out at about 2PM to take Chelsea for her blood test. On our way back home, we stopped in to see Dick and he shared pretzels with her. She was glad to see him and glad to get home again too.

I fixed scalloped potatoes for supper and will bring them and ham to Dick tomorrow night for our dinner.

Today, on the way home the radio was interviewing Santas. Actually the Santas are fighting which is rather silly if you ask me. These are guys that have natural white beards and are older and make Santa-ing a year round profession. One of them said that all year round children would recognize him as Santa so he always carried a bag of small toys for them. That was nice.

But that is not what I wanted to talk about. The year I had to come home shortly after Christmas the year my brother Matt died, Uncle Jim Deeley, my Dad's brother, offered to drive me and the boys to the airport. He, as all the Deeley men, had a full head of hair and had grown a full beard which was a wonderful white. When he came in, my Bret, just over 3 years old, ran up to him and said "Who are you?" Jim swept Bret up into his arms and in a booming voice said, "I'm Santa Claus." Bret laughed in delight. I should ask him if he remembers that. Jim was good to me when I needed him. I was good to him too.

I heard news that the son of some very good friends died in the past couple of days. This is from my jeeping days. Please say some prayers for the soul of Dana and extra for his brother and sisters. They have suffered much loss this past year and need comfort.

Dick and I have so many decisions and so many things to do in the next month. We can still use the prayers too.

Bret called this evening. He is out at the river for a short New Year Vacation and is doing a lot of jeeping with his friends. He sounds relaxed and happy. He said he is going to try to get back here for a visit in August. He would like to go to a festival or a Brat Days or some thing. He says they don't have anything like that in So. California. Probably because of all the Disneylands and Knotts Berry Farms. It is a loss though . Those festivals and picnics are SO much fun.

Til tomorrow

God love you


Mary