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?

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a nice holiday if you celebrate and a solid Thursday regardless. Here are three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi made his way north, so I got to see him for the first time in over six weeks.

2. The chemo part of Mum’s treatment wrapped up on Tuesday. And she’s down to just five more radiation treatments.

3. My college roomie skipped the holiday activities we’d planned to do before Mum needed to take stricter precautions. Instead, we stayed outside most of the day and did a little Christmas shopping and ate a tremendous Lebanese supper. And she sent me home with a care package for Mum and me.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My BFF tells me, “You know I can always come to you if you need me to, right? Or if you aren’t there, and you need me to get there, I can.” I can’t explain to you the kindness and the love of this offer.

2. The sunset looks like a dud, but I just needed to wait past the blah moment.

3. After putting the yard to bed for the winter, I am rewarded with fancy hot chocolate by my mom.

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