I realized after I went to bed last night that it was Thursday and that, for the first time, I’d forgotten to put up a three beautiful things post. I considered dragging my tired butt out of bed so as not to mess with tradition, but since I was coming to work today, I thought better of it. So today you get yesterday’s post of three beautiful things from the previous week:

1. Our annual New Year’s Eve movie marathon had a rather shaky portion to it (more on that this weekend), but we ended strong with Bedtime Stories. It was everything I want in a fairy-tale: an affable hero, a villain you can root against without remorse, and a happy ending.

2. I got the chance to see both BW and Karen while home at Christmas, as well as to make a Christmas night phone call to Grey Kitten — a good end to 2008. And yesterday we spent time with the Cap Hill gang with a wonderful New Year’s Day brunch, before I was able to catch Erik on the phone for a long-overdue chat. I love spending time with my friends and hope that this is part of a larger theme for this new year. Here’s to more phone calls with those far away and more gatherings with those nearby.

3. Rudi and I decide at the last minute to add two more doughnuts to our drive-through Dunkin’ Donuts order on the drive home. The woman at the window hands us a bag filled to the top and tells us she’s added a few more for free.

The beautiful thing I thought of last night as I was falling asleep that I told myself twice not to forget eludes me right now. If I remember it, I may share an addendum…

Why is it that hitting publish suddenly brings it to mind?

4. We change our return plans so that we are driving home at night. The lights along the Garden State Parkway cheer us, since New Jerseyites are possibly the most festive and ardent outdoor decorators I know and whole neighborhoods seem to participate. A mobile park along Route 1 offers tin soldiers at the entrance — and the most vibrantly lit tree. It stands at least two stories tall and every branch is coated with white lights. It literally glistens in the breeze as a beacon to road-weary travelers. I wish the people who decorate the official National Christmas Tree on the Mall would call them up for some tips.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that those of you who celebrate the day found it filled with love and joy and excitement. Yesterday was a little stressful for us as we drove north while trying to finish our shopping. (Note to self: Remember to check for wallet before leaving home next time…) Today, however, was perfectly lovely, as we celebrated this morning in front of the tree with my folks and Gramma. My aunt, uncle, and cousins arrived midafternoon, and we ate a wonderful turkey dinner followed by two types of trifle. A game of pool and some light holiday tv (of yesteryear) rounded out the night.

Since I keep dozing off as I type this, I’m going to save any more recapping for another night and instead compile here for you three beautiful things from my Advent week:

1. We realize after the grocery stores close last night that we’re lacking one of the title ingredients for carrots and peppers. The local Olive Garden to my folks do not laugh Rudi out of the restaurant as he inquires about the plausibility of buying a pepper or two from them. The chef himself bears out a clamshell styofoam container showcasing a red and a green bell pepper. Everyone involved refuses payment and instead wishes Rudi a Merry Christmas.

2. I stay up late wrapping on Christmas Eve and spend the end of the night watching Christmas Eve on Sesame Street.

3. Part of our holiday tradition includes balling up the used wrapping paper and shooting baskets with it into a paper bag. The first round is fun, but the second and third even better. I collect the unsunk balls of paper and we try again, but this time with my parents’ puppy playing along with us. We shoot over her. She steals some balls for her own play later on. The best moment comes when she takes a just-sunk ball of Rudi’s out of the bag. I like to think Cran was rooting for me…

Before I go, here are some favorite Christmas songs I meant to give you back on Monday, but that I ran out of time to share:

Dar Williams’ “The Christians and the Pagans”:

Amy Grant’s “Love Has Come” (on Last.fm)

The Statler Brothers’ “The Carols Those Kids Used to Sing” (on Last.fm)

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. We head to Old Town to buy a longer needle for the quilt and stop at a European-style bakery after we leave the yarn shop. I order hot chocolate and get a bowl of hot milk and a pitcher of melted chocolate. The milk has a chocolate smiley face poured onto it.

2. Raspberry and apricot thumbprint cookies. Gramma’s chocolate mint sticks. And vegan pumpkin cranberry scones for Suzanne‘s birthday brunch. (I’d seriously recommend the scone recipe as an easy treat.)

3. Today, finally, a few good ideas for Christmas presents occur to me.

Oops! Running out of Thursday… Three beautiful things from the past week or two:

1. Metro decorated for Christmas. Metro Center is outfitted in green and gold garland. And the Dupont Circle ticket shack is sporting garland in red.

2. On a cool, rainy night, the smell outside the house of the dryer venting.

3. Nearly invisible snow flurries drift down as Rudi and I leave to cut down our tree on Saturday. By the time we’ve tied the tree on the roof and are heading back toward the District, the snow flakes are obvious even to casual observers. After a stop at a store or two, we return to find snow coating the grass and the car.

I may decide later today to do a second Three Beautiful Things this week, but for now I offer you memories of three beautiful women who died this week:

1. When I got up in the middle of the night Wednesday and saw Kat‘s music choices, I knew that Odetta must have died. I wrote a post immediately (I know, I know. Sleep is important.), but mostly because I needed to listen to some of her music. Mum and Dad gave me a copy of her greatest hits cd last year for Christmas, so I put that on as I was hunting for some videos to share… Rudi, Eri, and I saw Odetta at the New Haven Folk Festival back in 1999, where we were blown away by the little woman withe the big voice singing out under the stars. I’m so glad we got to see her. (There is a free track available for legitimate download here. I’m having trouble with it at the moment, but I thought I’d put it out there for others to try.)

2. Monday morning, the book blogging world was shaken with the news that Dewey of The Hidden Side of a Leaf had died last week. Apparently she’d been ill and in a lot of pain, but had gritted her teeth and typed through it. Amazing. Dewey was the inventor of the Weekly Geeks (which I failed to participate in even once, although I always meant to…), the administrator of the 24-hour-readathon I did take part in back in October, and a voracious reader. The book blogging community is poorer without her, and our thoughts go out to her husband and her son.

3. Last night Rudi got the call he’d been dreading for a while now. His grandmother, Jonny, had died. His father was with her at the time, which does make it easier to bear. Jonny had suffered from Alzheimer’s and had been shifted out to Portland from Salt Lake when Rudi’s dad moved. She wasn’t happy about that move being forced upon her, but one of the blessings of Alzheimer’s is that you lose the bitterness of recent indignities as well as the good memories. In recent years Jonny had mistaken her son for her dead brother and couldn’t quite place Rudi, although she was always happy to hear from the “nice young man.” The last time we saw her, in the spring of 2004, she seemed happy, showing us her coloring books and her stuffed cat, introducing us to her friends at the nursing home she lived in, and showing us her room. We are left with the legacy of a woman who, before her illness, was a tough broad. She moved with her young family from the Netherlands to Salt Lake after WWII, learned a new language, got a job, and made a comfortable life for them. She doted on her grandson when he eventually came along, cared for her daughter-in-law through two earlier miscarriages, and generally enjoyed life with family and dear friends. She had a big smile and laughing eyes, and that’s how I shall remember her from now on. (Rudi memorializes Jonny himself here.)

Three beautiful things from this Thanksgiving Thursday:

1. We got off to a later start than planned Wednesday for our 8-hour drive north. We missed all traffic jams and, because of our timing on 95, managed to bail onto an alternate route to avoid heavy delays in Maryland and Delaware.

2. John set up his Christmas tree for Sunday’s watching of the Steven Colbert Christmas special. The tree is a Charlie Brown affair, but was his parents’ first tree after they got married way back when.

3. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. “Alice’s Restaurant.” The Macy’s Day Parade, ending with the arrival of Santa Claus. The Dunkin’ Donuts run with Dad. Cooking as a family. I love them all, year after year.