9:56 a.m.

I have been drinking too much. It’s not that I get drunk, or even to the point of slurring my words. But I am having a drink or two or three pretty much every day, and have been for some time. And that, in my opinion, is too much.

While on the one hand I can see the sense in sitting down for a ritual glass of wine before dinner as being relaxing, what happens here is that Loverboy is forever cracking open a beer for himself and handing me one so I can join him, or else the sight of his makes me thirsty and I drink some of it or get my own. Or he’s getting out two glasses of rye and mixing us both a rye and coke, and we end up having two. In my case, last night, three.

It’s too much, it’s getting to be a habit, and I want out of it. Alcohol affects my system negatively; I know this because it has often brought on the neck thing. It’s as if I have an allergy to it.

I need to modify my intake rather than continue on with this daily drinking routine. It won’t be easy to do with someone in the house who opens a beer practically every time he is thirsty, and because I like a social drink as much as the next person. But I have to get a grip on it, be more thoughtful about what I am putting into my body.

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It’s almost 1 o’clock. I had to take a pill and go back to bed after I finished the first part of this entry. We sat up till almost 2 o’clock last night when Loverboy’s sister and brother were here visiting with us, and I awoke with the neck thing and oh, naturally my period for Christmas.

The rest of the day will be busy. I have to go to town for some last-minute gifts and groceries, and then I have to make enough lefse for both our families’ gatherings. Gifts need to be wrapped as well, and then after supper we head off to my aunt and uncle’s to open them and eat, drink and be merry.

I wish you could see the snow heavy on the branches of every tree. It is truly beautiful. We’ve had a soft but heavy snowfall and now the landscape looks like Christmas should.