2003-12-28 - 8:08 p.m.

I've been on vacation since the Monday before Christmas. I'm so relaxed. It's great. I've been getting lots of sleep - going to bed around 11 and waking up around 8, consistently. My bkood sugar level has been great, and I've been managing to exercise, too.

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Saw The Last Samurai with Mom on Christmas Eve after going for sushi. Great meal, good movie, a bit gory.

Christmas was okay. I did my mom's shopping for the local kids, and the best part of the holiday for me was watching my niece Alexandra open things and exclaim, "Grandma! You keep getting me exactly what I wanted! How did you know?!?!?"

All the gifts I gave went over well.

The lebkuchen came out the best-ever this year, and got raves from everyone who tried it.

Chocolate Lebk�chen

December 12, 1992 (an ancient Hartfield family recipe, from Woman's Day Magazine, Dec. 1961)

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup honey (8 ounce jar)

2 tablespoons water

2 cups semi - sweet chocolate chips (12 ounce package)

1 cup unblanched almonds (or walnuts)

1/2 cup finely chopped mixed candied fruit

2 eggs, well-beaten

1/4 cup orange juice

2 3/4 cups sifted flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

2 teaspoons ground cardamom

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

thin frosting

decoration

Combine sugar, honey, and water in large saucepan. Bring to boil. Remove from heat, cool until test chocolate chips do not melt when stirred in to bottom. When cool, stir in chocolate, almonds, candied fruit, eggs, and orange juice. [*] Sift in flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder, and BLEND THOROUGHLY. Store dough in tightly-closed container at room temperature for 3 days to ripen. Spread into greased and floured 15"x10"x1" pan. Bake in moderate oven (325F) 35 to 40 minutes. Cool. Frost and decorate. Makes about 50.

(* this is easiest if you mix the eggs and orange juice together, add the mixture to the honey, and then add the rest of the items as directed above.)

So yeah, that was Christmas.

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For New Years' Eve, I'm having Mom over for pot roast dinner, and then we're going to see Return of the King which was entirely her idea. She's borrowing my DVDs of the first two movies.

Tomorrow it's off to the car dealer at 9:30 to see if they can find out why I'm smelling burning oil, to adjust the brakes, to look at why the driver's window is slow, and hopefully to buff the scratches off the trunk lid. Such fun!