When Bilbo awakened that morning, he knew instantly what day it was. Today he was thirty- three: an adult hobbit in his own right, now. He was also to be the host of the largest party Bag End had seen since before the Fell Winter.

He sat up, and his eyes fell upon the list on his night table. He smiled. He'd been quite right to put young Rory in charge of the festivities. The lad had done a marvelous job planning everything, and with Dora's help, the guest list and the invitations had gone out in an efficient and timely manner. Rory had left him the list the night before, of things Bilbo would have to see to today. The lad had gone down to The Ivy Bush to stay overnight with his parents and younger brothers and sisters, for there were other guests at Bag End: Uncle Isengrim, Uncle Isumbras and Aunt Rosa (though Adalgrim and his family were also down at the inn), Siggy, Uncle Isengar and Aunt Citrine were all guests in the hole, and Rory had wanted to spend time with his family; he'd gladly given his guest room over to Uncle Isengrim. But it had been deemed best for Bungo's peace that the families with young children stayed at the inn.

He rose and made his morning ablutions, and dressed in the fine suit that had been his parents' gift to him the day before: it was of a rich dark green wool, and the waistcoat of a deep wine-colour embroidered with autumn leaves on the lapels. He glanced at himself in the mirror standing in the corner of his room, and then ran his brushes through his curls on head and feet. There was a stack of wrapped gifts atop the blanket chest next to it, and he took two of the smaller ones from the top and slipped them into his pocket, along with Rory's list. Then he made his way into the kitchen.

Farmer Button's daughter-in-law had been engaged to come in and help with the guests and the party, and she had already begun preparations to put breakfast on the sideboard in the dining room; the food would be kept warm and fresh there throughout the morning, so that the guests could have first breakfast when they arose and then help themselves to second breakfast and elevenses whenever they chose. Bilbo greeted Mrs. Button, and then took a large tray and put three plates upon it with napkins and cutlery, and began to fill the plates up with toast and eggs and rashers of bacon and a few mushrooms. A pot of tea and three cups were added.

"For your parents, Master Bilbo?"

"Yes, Mrs. Button."

She nodded and moved the hot skillet in which she had planned to make griddlecakes to one side. "Let me help you, sir."

She took a smaller tray and added the cream pitcher, the honeypot and a jar of cherry preserves, and went behind him, pushing the doors open from the side, so that he could go through first.

The trays were placed on the table next to the bed, and Mrs. Button quietly excused herself.

"Good morning, Mama, Papa," Bilbo said, bending over to accept a kiss on his cheek by his mother, and briefly dropping a kiss himself on her forehead. Bungo scooted up against his pillows to sit more comfortably. Belladonna arose and put on her dressing gown and moved to the chair at the side of the bed, and Bilbo pulled a second chair over after putting the largest tray across his father's lap.

"Happy Birthday, son," said Bungo. "You look quite smart this morning."

"Thank you, Papa! How are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm feeling much better, son. I'm sure that I could get up today and be of help to you..." but his words were forestalled as Belladonna raised her hand.

"No, my love. You wish to be able to be at the Birthday Feast this evening. You will stay abed and rest today."

Bungo heaved a deep sigh, but nodded. Bilbo decided it was an appropriate time to give his gifts. He drew them forth from his pocket and handed them over: two oval shaped leather cases about the size of his hand. The one he handed to his father was black, and embossed with the Baggins monogram; the one to his mother was a deep red, and embossed with a design of leaves and flowers. His parents looked at one another in puzzlement, and then unlatched and opened the tops.

"Spectacles!" Bungo exclaimed.

"Spectacles indeed," said Belladonna. "Whatever made you think of them?" She drew hers out, and looked at the delicate gold-gilded frames. Bungo was also examining his.

Bilbo shrugged. "Uncle Isengrim seemed pleased with his; they make it so much easier for him to read all those documents he has to go through as Thain. I know you miss reading, Papa." For the last couple of years it had become difficult for Bungo to read any but the very largest of letters; his wife and son often read aloud to him, but Bilbo knew how much his father missed quietly reading by himself. "and Mama, I noticed a few months ago that you were struggling with your sewing. So I asked Uncle Gorbadoc to see if he could get these for me from that same craftsman in Bree who made Uncle Isengrim's." *

It was Bungo who first tried his on. He blinked owlishly through them. "They will take some getting used to," he said, "but I think they will help."

"How is everything going, dear?" asked his mother, as they got to the business of eating breakfast.

"Quite well! I knew that Rory would do a splendid job of the planning, and he has my day all set out for me! I've already crossed out the first few items on his list..." He drew it from his pocket and showed his parents.

"1. Rise, wash and dress.
2. First breakfast with your parents; give them their gifts.
3. Your students will be giving you gifts in the study.
4. Second breakfast in dining room with the houseguests.
5. Approve the list of music.
6. Make sure all the family gifts are tagged.
7. Elevenses with Dora and myself in the kitchen
8. Inspect the party pavillions
9. Bring out the gate gifts. Make sure not to get them mixed up.
10. Luncheon in the dining room.
11. Guests will begin to arrive; be at gate for handing out of gifts.
12. The Party begins. See schedule for activities available to guests." There were a few lines added beneath Rory's careful and precise round hand in Dora's heavily flourished handwriting: "All those invited to the family feast at supper have accepted, with the exception of your Uncle Longo, Aunt Camellia and Cousin Otho. So there will only be 30 guests. However you and your parents will still make the number of those present 33."

Belladonna laughed out loud, and Bungo shook his head with a smile. "I would say that your cousins were quite thorough in their planning," he said.

Bilbo was grinning himself. "They did a wonderful job, actually. Rory was wary of working with a lass of his own age, since his experience of them was based on Brandy Hall and that lot of giggling tweens. And Dora thought Rory would never be serious. But they got on quite well once they began working, and the only disagreement between them I had to settle was in the invitations to the supper: Dora wanted to invite nearly every relation I have, and Rory wanted to keep it down to about a dozen. I compromised at thirty-three, going by the old custom for young children of inviting the number equal to the age of the byrding"

"Well," said his mother, "you'd best be along to your study and see what the young ones have prepared for you. Dora would never forgive you if you allowed that to drag past noon!"**

Bilbo laughed, and told them he'd see them later, and made his way to his study. The door was open just a crack, and as he approached he heard a voice hiss: "Here he comes!" and the door closed with a snick.

He stood by the door and listened to the sounds of shuffling around, and then opened the door.

His pupils all stood lined up in front of the hearth. There were Rory and Dora, her younger brothers Drogo and Dudo, Mat Lightfoot, Tongo Goodbody and Posco and Prisca Baggins.

As Bilbo's youngest and newest pupil, little Dudo went first, presenting Bilbo with a jar of his mother's famous cherry preserves. Next was young Tongo, who handed him a basket of sugar biscuits. "I baked them myself, Cousin Bilbo!"

Posco gave him a rather creditable drawing of a bowl of fruit, and Prisca played a song for him on her fiddle. Drogo gave him a quill he had cut himself, with a stand he had carved for it. Blushing as red as a beetroot, Mat presented to him an iron paperweight in the shape of a mushroom. "I hope as you like it, Mr. Bilbo. Master Noakes only helped a little bit!" Bilbo praised it highly; it was a clever bit of metalwork, and he knew that the smithing still did not come easy to his one student who was not family.

Dora presented him with a scarf she had knitted in shades of green. He laughed when she gave it to him. "I saw you working on this! I'd no idea it was to be my gift!" Her serious young face allowed a small smile of pleasure for him.

"Your mother said you'd never guess," she said smugly.

"She was quite right! This is very nice, and with cooler weather coming soon, most welcome!"

Finally Rory presented his gift with a flourish: a large basket filled with a bounty of mushrooms of several kinds. "I had to get up early to finish filling the basket, Bilbo! But I found most of them yesterday afternoon!"

So that was what Rory had been up to the day before, when he had vanished for a few hours. Bilbo had thought the lad was simply seeing to some loose ends for the Party. He inhaled the fresh woodsy fragrance emanating from the basket.

"Thank you all very much! I am very fortunate to have such wonderful pupils! Now, if you will wait just one moment..." He went to his desk, and took a stack of slim books from it, presenting one to each of them. "That is a little poem about the founding of the Shire, and I hope that all of you will enjoy it."

He permitted each of them to take one of his sugar biscuits and one mushroom apiece from the basket. Then he saw all of them out save Rory and Dora.

"Is there anything I need to know that is not included on my list or on the schedule?" he asked.

Rory shook his head. "Everything is going swimmingly. I need to go and see if the pavilion has been put up already."

"And I promised to help your mother and Mrs. Button in the kitchen," said Dora.

"In that case, I will give these into your charge," he handed the two baskets to her. "Take those to my mother. I'm sure that the biscuits will make a nice addition to the tea table, and I'm sure that the mushrooms will be welcome at the supper!"

As the two tweens left the study, Rory called back over his shoulder: "Don't forget to mark things off your list! We'll see you at elevenses!"

With a chuckle, Bilbo took up his new quill, dipped it in the inkpot, and struck out the third item. Number four was second breakfast, and he was quite ready for it!

The only guests in the dining room were Uncle Isengar and Aunt Citrine and Siggy. He helped himself to a full plate at the sideboard, and sat down to enjoy their congenial company and gossip about the Tooks.

"How's Chop and his family? Have you seen them lately?" asked Bilbo. Adalgrim and Periwinkle and their little lasses would not be arriving until after luncheon.

Siggy nodded. "Chop brought the little ones with him to the Great Smials during Lithe. Periwinkle stayed in Whitwell; her sister Pomona was visiting, and she wanted to spend plenty of time with her."

Bilbo tried to push away the pang he felt at the mention of Pomona's name; he still found himself thinking with regret of his lost opportunity. He hoped nothing showed on his face.

Aunt Citrine spoke up. "She finished her apprenticeship and will be taking up a practice in Long Cleeve in the North-farthing. The healer there is getting on in years and would like to see someone new established in her place before she retires."

The North-farthing! Truly, fate was against him; that was even further away than Michel Delving. Fortunately, the talk passed on to other subjects; Aunt Citrine had some rather tart things to say about Lalia, who was trying her best to make her mark on the Great Smials as the Heir's wife. "You'd think she was the Lady already, the way she goes on. She's got the most peculiar notions, and I fear she's passing some of them on to other more impressionable lasses. We've now got half again as many servants there as we did when Gerontius was Thain, and ordering them about seems to be her favourite pastime!"

Belladonna entered the dining room at that moment. "I will be glad to see Fortinbras, but I must say, I'd not have been offended if he and Lalia had declined their invitation."

Uncle Isengar and Bilbo exchanged glances, and then Bilbo said diplomatically, "She will just be one among many today, Mama, and I don't believe she will have much chance here to put on airs."

Fortunately Uncle Isengar decided to change the subject, and began to speak of some of the customs of the South that he had encountered in his adventurous youth. Since all at the table were Tooks, no one discouraged him.

Bilbo became so absorbed in his uncle's tales (many of which he had heard before) that he was surprised to look and see Rory gesturing at him from the doorway of the dining room. "Hsst!"

"Excuse me," he said. "My taskmaster awaits!" Everyone laughed as he went to see what Rory wanted.

"You have to look over the music!" Since the musicians had only had the chance to come together that morning (for they were all friends and family) there had been no prior opportunity to decide what to play.

Bilbo glanced at the list. It mostly consisted of the usual dance tunes: the Southfarthing Brawl, the Tangle Dance, Exchanges, Happy Hob and a number of other favourites, and a few popular songs such as "Down the Green Hills", "Nob o' the Lea", and "By the Banks of the Brandywine", Bilbo quickly nodded. "That's fine, Rory!
What do I need to do next?"

"Are the gifts for the family supper all tagged?"

"Yes, I saw to that last night."

"Are you sure?"

Bilbo refrained from rolling his eyes. "I am quite sure. Do you want to check them? They are in my room."

Rory appeared on the brink of saying yes, but then drew a deep breath. "No, that's all right. If that job is done, you can come out with me and make sure the pavilion is all done correctly; we'll set up the gifts by the gate, too. Then we can have elevenses in the kitchen."

Bilbo was, for a change, not especially hungry; he had after all, been eating continuously since second breakfast. But a nibble to keep Rory and Dora company as they compared their progress on the party would not go amiss.

The pavilion, under the supervision of the gardener Master Tam Goodchild and with the help of Magpie and Jackdaw Twofoot, was set up, and Dora was seeing to its decoration with colourful ribbons. She agreed to join Bilbo and Rory in the kitchen for elevenses as soon as she had finished. Then Bilbo and Rory went in to fetch the boxes of gifts for the guests who would be coming in the afternoon; Siggy spotted them and gave them a hand. Bilbo had a box filled with various small toys such as spinning tops, marbles and balls for the children. There was another box of small stuffed animals for the faunts. and for the adults, there were two baskets of pocket handkerchiefs: plain for the hobbits, and lace-edged for the hobbitesses.

He sat down at the table in the kitchen with Dora and Rory, and put his list down, using a stub of pencil to cross out what had been done.

"You did those things out of order," said Dora, as she filled her plate and sat down next to Bilbo and Rory. She looked disapproving.

"But they are done, which is the more important thing," said Bilbo mildly. He took a scone and a cup of tea, and watched his younger cousins eat a while. Rory was all appetite, and Dora would not think it proper to discuss the party business while eating.

When the two pushed their plates to one side, they all spoke briefly of the schedule Rory had made. After luncheon, the Party would begin, and the guests who were not staying at Bag End would begin to arrive.

*Author's Notes: Eyeglasses were developed as early as the 13th century in our world, and Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals in the 18th century. I do not think that it would be beyond the realms of possibility that spectacles would be available to hobbits, though they would probably be both expensive and hard to come by. Clearly these are "generic" reading glasses in my story (such as are still often sold today) and not specifically prescribed. But I think that would have been the most likely way to obtain them.

**According to Tolkien's Letter #214, the "byrding" (person having the birthday) both gave and received gifts. But any gifts to the byrding were to be given on the day before, or at the latest, before noon on the day of the Party. By no means were gifts to the byrding to be given at the Party.