Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Merry Tuba Christmas at the Kennedy Center is filled with 300 deep, innards-rumbling instruments. It makes “Good King Wenceslas” and “Joy to the World” that much more fun to sing along with.

2. Having the Burrow slowly fill up with people for a party and then having it empty back out again.

3. The books I’m reading are bumming me out and I decide I need a change. I grab the copy of A Child’s Christmas in Wales Mum and Dad gave me for my birthday and tuck it in my bag. I pull it out while waiting for the train and start to read — aloud but under my breath — and instantly feel calmer. Somehow, being read to (even if I am the one doing the reading) just feels right.

How about you? What was beautiful in your world this week?

Hello, December! Fancy meeting you here and now. I need a little more time to properly prepare for your arrival, though, so would you mind terribly doing another loop around the block and come back a smidge later? Thanks.

Three beautiful things from my past week (in November):

1. After my parents leave to take the guys to the airport, Rudi and I curl up in my folks’ recliners and read all afternoon — he from his computer and I from a Christmas-themed library book. It’s just the sort of down time we haven’t had in a long while.

2. The day Karen and I have set aside to meet up is unseasonably warm. We intersperse gingerbread pancakes and book shopping with a stroll along the river (sans jackets!) and chatting over hot drinks outdoors.

3. I spend the afternoon decorating Gramma’s tree with Dad and decorating Spritz cookies with Mum. Everyone feels the encroachment of time, but doing fun things together helps to take the sting out of leaving.

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

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! [Oops. I fell asleep without hitting publish. Happy day after Thanksgiving, too!] I haven’t forgotten about sharing the end of my trip with you. It’s just that we followed our trip to Iceland with a trip to Connecticut to spend Thanksgiving with my family.

Here are three beautiful things from the previous week:

1. My brother and his partner Matt have come east for the holiday. Although I was charmed by Matt the first time we met a couple years back, we hadn’t spent more than a couple hours together until now. I’m delighted that he really, authentically seems to be a nice guy — just the sort of person you’d hope your kid brother would end up with.

2. Our cats were super excited to have us home again, and all three of them curled up on the bed with us at night.

3. The day before we were due to head home from Iceland, we decided to rent a car and head out to see some more sights (and sites). It ended up being a really good day full of scenery, history, and bonhomie.

I hope you, too, had a Thanksgiving surrounded by those you are most grateful to have in your life.

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Time off — and in such a beautiful place — with Rudi. This will be a trip we remember for a long time.

2. Under any circumstance, a rainbow merits a mention. But particularly when it welcomes us to a foreign city.

3. Before we left home, the leaves were finally starting to fall. Crunching your way down the sidewalk made it seem autumn-like indeed.

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

It’s the Thursday before we go to Iceland. Whee!

Ahem…

Sorry about that.

I now return you to our regularly scheduled Thursday feature — three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Fall has arrived in D.C. and the trees are bedecked in lavish costumes of orange and yellow.

2. After my semi-annual dental check-up, I celebrate clean teeth with a raspberry cream milkshake and two macarons from Barracks Row restaurants, which I eat in a park under the setting sun.

3. Two of my coworkers and I — all of us survivors of the pre-launch mania — buy lunch, head to a local plaza, and eat outside on a gorgeous sunny afternoon. We chat and laugh and talk about things that have nothing to do with work. It feels so luxurious not to have to rush right back to the office.

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

I can now count the number of days until Iceland on my fingers. That’s good because although I’m not working the insane hours that I was before my project went live, we’ve had some hiccups that still prevent me from focusing on what’s important — my impending vacation.

However, the week has not been without its highlights, and here are but three of the beautiful ones amongst them:

1. My dad’s best friend comes up to help my folks clear the driveway of all the fallen trees blocking their egress. They might still be without power, heat, and running water, but at least now they can leave if they have/want to.

2. Rudi takes a day off to testify before city council. He’s done in time to join me downtown for a late lunch out in the sunshine.

3. Susan and Phillip invite me to accompany them to Holden’s first Halloween festival. He is a devil — and the most adorable one ever — with a huge, impish grin.

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