How’s your first week of 2010 been? Mine has been pretty good, even if I did have to go back to work for a whole five days in a row. Seriously, though, it’s been a generally positive, laid-back start to the year. If that’s the tone for the next 51 weeks, I will have no complaints.

Here are three beautiful things from the last seven days:

1. The series premiere of Chuck is a lot of fun and gives us a little insight into a show we hope to add to our repertoire when it opens its third season on Sunday.

2. One of my Christmas presents from Rudi was a new mouse for my computer. It’s small and doesn’t require finger gymnastics to use. Oh, and it’s a lovely dark teal color. (Actually, it nicely matches my current sock-in-progress.)

3. We are in the upswing for daylight hours. I headed down the hallway this afternoon at 4:15 and could still see sunlight on the building across the street.

So, how about you? What’s been beautiful in your life thus far in 2010?

Tonight will be a red-letter, blue-moon evening, so make sure you celebrate the switch from 2009 to 2010 with your favorite people.

I offer you here three beautiful things from the past week of holidays, visits, and vacation. Trust me when I say they’re only a sample:

1. Heading home after a lovely lunch date with my friend B.W., I opt to take a new route back from Pomfret. It leads me through the forestland of Connecticut’s Quiet Corner, where blue skies have replaced the slate grey ones of my morning drive. The roads are clear, and sun glints down on pines and oaks that look like someone has sifted powdered sugar on green boughs and brown branches. I feel like I’ve driven right into a snow globe, or maybe a movie set from the 1940s.

2. Mum cajoles Gramma into coming out to join us for elevenses yesterday morning — a brunch of blueberry pancakes, bacon, and hot beverages. We had some wonderful meals while home visiting, but this relaxed, final one was probably my favorite.

3. I awaken this morning in a cocoon of soft sheets, warm bodies, and purring cats. It’s a great way to finish out the year.

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

I’m lying in bed at my folks, Rudi asleep at my side. All our presents are wrapped and under the tree, and I have Christmas Eve on Sesame Street playing on the VCR. But my eyes keep closing, so it will be a challenge to get to the end.

Here are three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Driving north, so late at night that it’s nearing morning, Rudi and I see a meteor fall through the sky.

2. Two feet of snow blanket the District. Rudi, John, and I spend the afternoon out playing in it. We throw snowballs, make snow angels (okay, that might just have been me), and laugh until we’re exhausted. It’s a rare treat for the mid-Atlantic.

3. On the way home from church tonight, Dad and I see fireworks light up the horrizon. I like to think of it as someone expressing their joy to the world.

What beautiful things have you noticed lately?

Wishing you a very merry Christmas!

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. We watched the first two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer this week. Our friends always told us we’d enjoy the show — and they were right.

2. A felted wool beret is perfect for tucking wet hair into when running late for work on a chilly morning.

3. The D.C. Council passed the marriage equality law on Tuesday 11-2. Mayor Fenty will sign the bill tomorrow. Challenges have already begun, both in the courts and in Congress, but this was a HUGE step forward. I admit to being surprised by tears of joy after the vote.

PLUS

4. This weekend’s forecast suggests the mid-Atlantic is going to get significant snowfall. D.C. is currently in the swath gearing up for 6-12 inches. I see hours of cookie baking and cd making (and picture taking) in my near future.

What’s been beautiful in your world recently?

How did it get to be Thursday already? And it’s the end of Thursday, even… That doesn’t seem fair. If I promise we don’t need to go back and work again, could we rewind to Monday?

But, no, time marches forward and all we can do is note three beautiful things to mark the passing of the time:

1. Who knew that all it would take to make Northern Virginia pretty is a fresh blanket of snow?

2. The living room glows pink when the Christmas tree is the only thing lit.

3. Glee had its fall finale on Wednesday, and I enjoyed the last episode as much as the first one we saw over the summer. It’s far from a perfect show. In fact, it might be the most flawed show I’ve ever loved, but love it I do. I can (almost) overlook the plot sinkholes and the egregious overuse of auto-tune because of the things the show does have going for it: A great soundtrack (the overproduction of the songs isn’t so obvious on the cd where there’s no dialogue to compare it to) you can sing along to. Characters you like (or like to hate). (Incidentally, I think Quinn might be my favorite, which was a surprise to me.) And a sense of joie de vivre I can’t find anywhere else on tv.

What beautiful things have you noticed recently?

Christmas Eve is three weeks from today. That thought is simultaneously wonderful and terrifying. Instead of continuing to focus on how few hours fit into 21 days, let’s cast our eyes backwards and reflect on three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Feeling tired, cranky, and generally achy, I lie down for half an hour. I feel so much better when I get up.

2. Julia and I had made plans to meet for lunch Monday. Knowing there would be a friendly face halfway through the day made it that much easier to go back to work after five days off.

3. Today’s entries in the Virtual Advent Tour include a look at Dylan Thomas’ “A Child’s Christmas in Wales.” I can’t remember if I own a text version of the story, but I have an LP of Thomas reading it. Wanting to share it, since Nymeth mentioned how the language practically demands to be read aloud, I found a copy of it on NPR that gives additional background information on its recording. Dylan being Dylan, it really is an incomparably beautiful aural experience. “I said some words to the close and holy darkness and then I slept.”

What’s been beautiful in your world during these days of shortened light?