Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Sarah and I got to check out Enchant, which is this massive light display/maze/Christmas bazaar they’ve set up in Nationals Park. We both knew it was going to be a little cheesy, but were hoping for cheesy fun (as opposed to cheesy lame), and it was. We drank cocoa and I ate a pretzel with raclette cheese on it (so it was literally cheesy, as well as figuratively). We found all Santa’s reindeer and told him what we wanted for Christmas, and we enjoyed all the lights and generally had a lot of fun.

2. My office had a holiday party this week, with a white elephant/Yankee swap-type gift exchange. The person who ended up with my silly gift seemed pleased (she was the one who could steal from anyone at the end and instead opted to keep the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine), and when I offered the equally silly Taco-saurus Rex taco holder to a younger coworker after the fact, she nearly hugged me.

3. My volleyball team came in second for the league this time around, but we remarked afterwards that the team who won hadn’t really seemed like they were having fun, and that if those were the two choices (it’s a false dichotomy, but go with me), we’d pick to lose, but enjoy ourselves together. We stayed after everyone else went home to play 3-on-3, and then a bunch of us headed out to the bar to hang out for a couple more hours.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi, Sarah, and I went out for pizza at our favorite D.C. pizza joint last Saturday. The owner of the shop has publicly shared he’s considering moving to Colorado, and none of the shop’s social media pages have been updated in more than six months, so if they suddenly decide to close up shop in the middle of the night, at least we all enjoyed one last pie from them.

2. Rudi helped me finish decorating the Christmas tree the night before he left for Salt Lake City. This tree, which I bought for $20 in Connecticut, had a lot of bare patches in the middle, which might have been a turn-off for some people. It was very obvious when there was nothing on the tree but lights and would have remained so if I’d had a paucity of decorations. But empty space lends itself to dangly ornaments, and the tree has a lot of strong branches to hang heavier ones from, so now you’d be hard-pressed to notice the gaps.

3. Various people on my volleyball team have played together since last spring (four of us from one team, and three from another), but this is the first time the entire team has said they’d like to play together again in the next season. I keep getting emails from them as they sign up for the winter league. I’ve liked various teams I’ve played with before, but this group of folks is the first one that I’ve considered friends.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Many of the towns I drove through last Friday were putting the finishing touches on their holiday decorations, and I saw more than one cherry picker. This one reminded me of the reformed Bumble at the end of Rudolph.

2. Rudi and I caught a sneak preview of The Aeoronauts, which we loved, about a Victorian balloonist and the scientist who conceived of meteorology. The acting was great (Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne front the film), the script tight, and the movie should win awards for both cinematography and sound editing. If it interests you at all, make sure you see it in the theater, because no matter how good your tv is, it’s not going to compare.

3. We had the first snow of the season while we were up in New England. And then my parents had another foot after we left.

What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Here are three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The drive home to Connecticut (which Rudi did most of) was pretty uneventful Wednesday night. We got a late start, but the roads were mostly clear.

2. Corey was very snuggly this week after my absence and his night on his own.

3. Our table was full, and we got to talk to the most important people who were absent from it today. We have roofs over our heads and a way to pay for necessities and a few luxuries. We are healthy. And even if the country is not currently functioning the way most of us would like it to, we live in relative peace and can work to make our government better in the future.

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

Sign-ups are open for the Virtual Advent Tour, which starts Sunday. We’d love to have you take part!

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. On the flight to Kansas City, I had an entire row to myself.

2. My college roommate works in NYC, so she and I got to spend this evening catching up.

3. For both work projects I’m traveling for (both of them video projects), everyone involved has been super nice and very kind and giving of themselves. It makes the work I do feel valuable in a real sense, rather just in the theoretical, and that is a huge gift.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The heat is running when I sit down on the bus.

2. I meet a friend for drinks after work to keep from being lonely while Rudi is away.

3. The weather has been chilly, which is appropriate for November.

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