Tom forgot to set his alarm, so we overslept this morning and have been rushing around in a tizzy. I, for one, am glad he got a bit of extra sleep, given that he had zero time off yesterday. He didn't get home till after 10 and will have the same packed schedule today and tonight . . . that's too much carpentry for a 58-year-old carpenter.

But my own work schedule has suddenly lightened significantly: I finished and shipped the big editing project. Today I'll tackle the small project, sit in on a zoom meeting about plans for a February class, and probably do some Christmas baking and wrapping. Of course there are troubles too: the furnace stopped working, again, so I spent much of yesterday being cold and waiting for the repair guy. But supposedly things are back on track . . . though two emergency calls in a month doesn't seem like a good omen.

Anyway, for now, at least, the furnace is firing, and Tom is trudging forward, and I have a clean desk. Last night, I made wine biscotti; tonight I'll do a batch of Christmas cookies, probably jelly tots. I finished the Trevor stories, and will start Brett Ellis Easton's Less Than Zero, a book I don't particularly want to read but that was set at my son's college in the 1980s, so he's interested in my take on it. December tumbles forward.