The day after the Parade of Lights, the sense of being on the go caught up with us. Don and I felt that we were both getting a cold. A little too much yelling and not stopping created a good environment for illness. Fortunately we were able to be mellow for the day and seemed to have recovered after a day of rest. By the 23rd we were feeling much better and had the energy to help Jeff with preparations for the Christmas Eve dinner. Beth's parents arrived and ended up not needing the B&B that Beth had reserved so we spent the night in a small studio cottage. Small is our style and with a storage building we would feel quite comfortable. The small unique houses that surround this area are a contrast to the cookie cutter modern subdivisions. Most of the 23rd is spent shopping with Jeff to get all the ingredients for the Christmas Eve meal. A new experience for us is shopping at the IKEA store. Not sure if we enjoyed walking thru the entire store just to get to the checkout. Tasks today were helping to make the chocolate balls for the dessert and house decoration. Sleeping on the boat tonight so had to move it from the mooring to the harbor. Beth and her brother, Matt and his wife Shadow helped.