This morning I had a good start to the day with enough time for prayer and a decent attitude. We rose at a reasonable hour and I chose reasonable expectations given the long Christmas weekend.

Most of the day was spent cleaning and getting back to normal. The kids all enjoyed their new toys. I tried to set appropriate limits but remain a little more flexible than usual about outside physical activities and such.

In the afternoon some neighborhood kids came around and I tried to have a kind and tolerant attitude despite a point of disagreement with my wife. Later, my youngest son and I had some quality practice time. I used the strategy that I planned after the last difficult time. That is, I let him know well before hand, tied the session to reward, took small steps, and exercised patience. He really came through with a great effort.

In the evening I got to go to a meeting. I heard something out of the Big Book that I never heard before, "Our behavior will convince them more than our words."

Afterward I gave an old mentor a ride home. We had a good talk.

Thanks be to God.