Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. For the first time since the pandemic, Sarah, Rudi, and I resumed our New Year’s Eve movie marathon. (It was a mini marathon, but still!) We watched The Color Purple and Wonka — and enjoyed both — and ate Chinese food in lieu of pizza because Ella’s was closed. But at midnight, we were together, and that is what has been lacking since 2019.

2. Chris and Julie treat me to supper at a local restaurant the night after I get back to town on my own.

3. I baked last week and both cookies I made here were delicious and easy.

Salted peanut butter cookies (with thanks to Chris for his birthday request and Smitten Kitchen for coming through with a recipe, as I fully expected her to):

Gochujang caramel cookies (an Eric Kim recipe from the New York Times I’ve had open in a tab since December 2022 (not a typo), proving you really may eventually get back to it):

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I track down my dad’s favorite tea at a grocery store near them. It used to be at nearly every store, then only at stores around Jewish holidays, and now is only stocked by the occasional shop, so it felt really good to bring home a couple boxes. (Particularly since I drank so much of it on them when I was staying up there!)

2. Chris and Neal and I go out for a festive dinner of Italian food.

3. Christmas was different this year. Not bad. Just low-key. But Rudi and I and my parents were all together. And that was enough.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Neal, Chris, and I go out for supper.

2. Sergio and his wife hire a babysitter so she can make her work holiday party and he can come to our game. We appreciate his presence tremendously.

3. Rudi donated money to a friend’s son’s fundraiser and this week a box of assorted homemade cookies was delivered.

What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. NCAA volleyball championships are going on, which means whole nights of getting to watch my favorite sport. (The finals will be on ABC at 3 p.m. EST on Sunday, should you want to watch some top-notch athletes.)

2. We get a video chat with John, Nicole, and Juliet to hear about how their holidays are going and to see their menorah and their tree. And Rebs and I have a late-night talk, where we share darkened living room pictures of our trees.

3. When we need to start our game Wednesday evening, only three of us are in attendance. But Jasen, Chris, and I have played a lot of pickup together and take an early lead, which gives Katie time to get there to help us win the first set and then Sergio to help us take the third, beating the last undefeated team in our league.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. We held our annual tree-trimming party on Sunday and everyone had a lot of fun. Rudi’s friend, Anne, baked a GBBO showstopper, a chocolate mousse and raspberry cake, which was the highlight of the event.

2. Saturday, I played volleyball for four hours and then spent several more hours at a party with the gang. It was a very long, very social, and very pleasant way to spend the day.

3. Rudi and I had a date evening, stopping by the garden and then strolling into Georgetown. We stopped by a relatively new Lebanese dessert cafe, Pasha Castle, and were treated to samples of the wares. We settled on knafeh, which came with booza, a stretchy ice cream, and pashmak, a flossy cotton candy. It was delicious — rich without being overbearing and sweet without being cloying. We’ll definitely be sending our friends there.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. After two months staying with my folks, I’m home. Corey is elated to see me.

2. Five of us go out after the volleyball game. It’s good to catch up on people’s lives over drinks and food.

3. Sarah and Susan make time to have lunch with me. They are kind in letting me talk pretty much non-stop.

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