The first three beautiful things from the New Year:

1. Because motorcades disrupt the flow of D.C. traffic and make it difficult to get around the city, we were given an impromptu holiday on Tuesday to mourn the death of President Gerald Ford. Rudi and I walked down to watch the funeral procession from the Capitol to the Cathedral and then watched the service on tv. It was moving to see how beloved he was, especially by his family, who kept a vigil by his casket in order to thank the public mourners who came by to pay their respects. And while his death is sad, he lived an extraordinary and long life.

2. Feeling better on Tuesday, I headed off to Georgetown to shop and get some exercise. As I approached the P Street Bridge on my walk home to Dupont Circle in the growing twilight, a nearly full moon was rising over the Presbyterian church and The Brickskeller.

3. I hadn’t cleaned my desk at work in … years. Yesterday I ought to start the new year out right by doing some organizing. By the end of the day I had filled my recycling bin to overflowing and my papers were organized by project in piles on my table.

Three beautiful things from the last Christmassy week:

1. Short lines (or none at all) when you’re frazzled and behind in your pre-Christmas shopping.

2. Because we did the extended family Christmas on the third weekend of Advent, Christmas day itself was totally mellow. Christmas morning stretched well into Christmas afternoon. I didn’t change out of my pj’s until nearly 4. We left dishes on the dining room table while we relaxed for a while. Christmas calls were made and answered, but no one stressed over them. It was nerve-wracking to have to do Christmases two weekends in a row, but the calm second one almost justified the angst of the first.

3. Sleep. 13+ hours last night. I feel surprisingly awake and clear-headed today.

Three beautiful things from the last week:

1. When I got on the Metro Tuesday morning, I noticed a woman standing with her two children, a boy and girl who looked to be about 5 or so. At the stop between where I get on and where I get off, I moved over to stand next to them so as not to block the exit. As I did, the little girl looked up at me, smiled, and took my hand, which she held until I got off the train. They both chattered away at me, asking my name and telling me theirs. The little boy told me that his name was Buzz Lightyear and I told him I’d seen him on tv. When his sister assured me that he was not, in fact, the famed superhero, the boy quickly revised his story to say that he had the movie with him and pulled off his Sponge Bob backpack to show me.

2. My cousin Lally had six inches of iPod cozy knit when she left my folks’ house Saturday night. She and Gramma and I retired to Gramma’s sitting room to have a crash-course in knitting basics, and Lally took off like a bullet. (Thanks, Sarah, for all the help in finding the right pattern for an inaugural project.)

3. As I mentioned yesterday, I took cookies to work yesterday for a party. The containers were licked clean when they made their way back to me. And that was okay, because although each and every Eskimo cookie I made had been in one of the tins, the one that contained the fudge hadn’t been quite big enough to fit all that I’d made. So Rudi and I have a little fudge stash at home for when we need a chocolate pick-me-up.

Three beautiful things from the last week:

1. Toddlers from a local nursery school are at the corner when I surface from the Metro this morning. I am not thinking clearly at first, but then realize their day care providers must have brought them down so they could see the whimsical Christmas window displays Macy’s has created for the season. I switch direction so I can witness their first peek.

2. Holiday decorations are up in the neighborhoods and I enjoy looking at them as I wander around the city doing my shopping. Many decorations are tasteful and restrained and totally fit the income bracket in which their owners reside. The more fun ones are ones that don’t. Two single-family fancy houses in upper Georgetown had lights that blink in time to tinny music. Another, around the corner from my house, is a 13-bedroom mansion (with carriage house) that went on the market last year for $8 million. They boast a plastic lit tree and manger scene in their front driveway. I love that Christmas sanctions breaking out of what society expects of us to celebrate in the ways that make us happiest.

3. The warm weather has contributed to the delusion that I have plenty of time until Christmas. But coming from New England, I refuse to look a gift horse in the mouth, and have been spending plenty of time outdoors. Tuesday, after my dental appointment, I stopped to have lunch at a local restaurant and convinced them to serve me outside. My waitress, who admittedly was wearing a flimsy short-sleeved outfit, wasn’t pleased with my decision, but I found it hard not to bask in the late morning sun like a cat.

It’s been a rough week; I’m hoping yesterday was the low point and that we’re headed toward higher ground today. In the meantime, three beautiful things from the last week of working late:

1. The moon was full this week and bright against the clear, black winter sky. By the time I leave the office, it has cleared all the downtown buildings and just hangs over H Street, wishing me a good night.

2. My friend Sarah stayed late at work last night for an extra FIVE hours in order to help me finish assembling materials for the meeting. She never complained about how disorganized I was, and she is the only reason I made it out before midnight.

3. Rudi had a hot pot of tea and a warm embrace waiting for me when I finally got home around 10:30. Both were necessary and truly appreciated.

How it got to be Thursday is beyond me, but since it’s here, let’s celebrate three beautiful things from the last week:

1. There were no Christmas lights lit save for the Delaware Highway Patrol Barracks in the middle of 295 when Rudi and I drove north Wednesday night. On Friday evening, a few houses had their lights on. By the time we began our drive south Sunday night, there were lights everywhere, and Rudi and I were able to exclaim, “Look! Christmas!” over and over. It was very exciting.

2. Last Christmas my folks loaned us an audio book to listen to on the drive home. Unfortunately, I forgot we didn’t have a cd player in the car. But I wisely ripped it to my iPod before we left for Thanksgiving, so we were entertained by a Christmas-themed Stephanie Plum mystery from New York to Maryland, making the drive seem substantially shorter and earlier than it was.

3. Last night someone in our neighborhood lit a fire. I’m not sure where exactly the fire was (although my guess would be the house kitty-corner to ours because they always get a supply of wood delivered every fall), but the smell of a wood fire wafted through my open window and curled around me as I sat at my desk.