Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi returned home after spending a week of caregiving. The cats and I are very glad to have him back.

2. Chris and I manage back-to-back weeks of multiple nights of pickup volleyball. Tonight was the last day this week, with most of our team being able to join us.

3. Aroush is able to join the team this upcoming season. I love when I’m able to bring together the people I like playing with best. (Rebecca is my next recruit when her class schedule allows.)

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world this week?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. D.C. gets about half a foot of snow. Rudi does the first pass at the sidewalks, after his flight is delayed until the afternoon, which means I only get stuck with about half the shoveling, rather than all of it.

2. Rudi’s delayed flight does mean he gets to accompany me to the snowball fight at Malcolm X Park:

3. Winter weather means winter foods — grilled cheese and tomato soup and paninis and cookies. Yum!

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The kittens were so excited to have me return home after nearly a week away.

2. My folks and I make plenty of Christmas cookies, enough to keep them settled for a few weeks.

3. With Sarah unavailable this New Year’s Eve, Rudi and I wing our movie marathon. We expect to see both represented at the Oscars. Emilia Pérez is an oddball Spanish-language musical drama about a young Mexican lawyer who helps a drug baron transition to a woman and stars, among others, Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez. But even better was Flow, a wordless Latvian animated film about a cat who must work with other animals to escape a catastrophe. It’s about cooperation and found family and climate disaster — and if you can find it, you should definitely watch it.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Jasen sent a Christmas card saying how much he values everything I do for the team and a gift for the kittens.

2. Sunday afternoon, I run across town in a desperate bid to finish my Christmas list. I am delighted to discover that Sarah, who’d been ill, is up and doing one final shift at her old job to help them out with the rush. She helps me with my shopping, and since she won’t be back in time to join us for our New Year’s Eve tradition this year, it feels particularly good to see her one last time in 2024.

3. Christmas was lovely, with a slow start to the day after Mum & I were up late wrapping. I think everyone liked their presents, the dinner was delicious, and we finished the night with The Bishop’s Wife, most of which Mum & I dozed through.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The Building Museum (a lovely venue should you ever visit D.C. and off the normal tourist track), with help from the downtown business improvement district, set up an indoor “ice” rink inside their vaulted space, and I pounced on tickets as soon as they went public. It was definitely a different experience than skating on actual ice (natural or manmade), but it was fun and festive. We had a very uncrowded weekday afternoon experience, and I’m glad we did it.

2. Saturday morning, the cats and I were abruptly awakened by the sound of falling debris crashing just outside the bedroom window. Turns out the construction crew next door was working on deconstructing part of a brick wall that separates our back properties, and they didn’t realize there was a window just beyond it. They managed not to send bricks into my bedroom and stopped as soon as they understood the lay of the land beyond. (I don’t blame them for not knowing, but I still would have been super pissed off if their pickaxe had sent a brick flying my way.)

3. The caliber of play in the NCAA women’s volleyball playoffs has been incredible, with Louisville upsetting the number one team in the country to advance to a home court final on Sunday, even after losing their ace partway through the game. And Penn State, whose coach is actively undergoing chemo for breast cancer, pulled off a reverse sweep (and staved off four match points) to eliminate the team I thought was going to win it all. I can’t wait to watch the final on Sunday, which will be the first time in history both teams are coached by women. (It’s on ABC at 3 p.m. should you want to join me.)

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Oops. Karen texted to ask me why I hadn’t posted this week, and I thought, “But I did!” But that was last week. Not this week. Ahem. I feel like I’m a little young to be claiming such forgetfulness, but I’m going to do it anyway.

Here, slightly belatedly, are three beautiful things from last week:

1. Our tree trimming was last weekend, and it was a fun event. We had folks from our earliest political days in D.C. (and their teenaged children!!!) and bikey friends and volleyball friends, and while everyone important to us here couldn’t make it (and thank goodness, because we most certainly would not have had room for them all), it felt like a nice balance of the people who make this home. (The photo shows the crew who stayed until the end of the night, with thanks to John for thinking to take a picture.)

2. While Rebecca gamely produced a steady stream of nearly all our ornaments to get them on the tree in record time during the party, I always pull aside a bag that contains the ones Rudi likes best so he can add them himself afterwards. He tucked them onto the tree during the week and then whisked the Christmas box back to our storage unit so it wasn’t cluttering up the living room.

3. While last season it took until the very end of the season to drop a set, this season the team lost our opening game in the second week. And then we were down in the second set, too. But we kept our cool and kept talking and won the second set and then dominated the tie-breaker, which felt extraordinarily good.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?