Today was the twelfth day of Christmas. Did you celebrate with drums, swans, and milk? No, me neither. But I will mark the occasion by noting three beautiful, holiday-related things from the week past:

1. Our Christmas tree had shed nearly all its needles and was starting in on the ornaments when we took it down on Monday night. I stayed up late to box up and inventory the ornaments and noticed that a soldier was missing his rapier. The next morning I asked Rudi to keep an eye out for it and a few minutes after leaving for work he was back with a tiny, pink, plastic sword, having sifted through the heap of dead needles out in the tree box. I know the soldier will be grateful that he was not removed from duty permanently.

2. Rudi and I have spent much of the last week catching up on our Christmas movie watching, which was a bit sparse before the holidays. We’ve seen It’s a Wonderful Life and Christmas in Connecticut and The Shop around the Corner (which neither of us had seen before) and Cosmic Christmas (a CBC production I hadn’t seen for 30 years), all of which fill my heart with joy. But I wanted Rudi to get to see something he wanted, too, so I suggested he put on A Christmas Story, which I only had seen once and which I hadn’t liked at all. I’m happy to report that, as with last year’s viewing of Nightmare before Christmas, my opinion has been revised and I now can appreciate the sentiment of the story.

3. We begin the year as we mean to go on — at midnight, we were out on a movie date that we followed by a walk home as fireworks went off (yes, literally!). And then our first dinner of 2011 was with friends: Susan and Phillip invited John, Kathie, Rudi, and me to join the two of them and their new baby Holden for a delicious supper.

How about you? What has been beautiful in your world during these last seven days of Christmas?

Rudi and I are back home after a lovely, but all-too-short, six-day stay in Connecticut. We ate all manner of delicious things. We caught up on sleep. We gave and received an array of glittery gifts. And we laughed with family we see all too little of. I’d say it was a good Christmas.

Here are three moments of beauty snapped in the final week of the year:

1. Snow starts falling around 9:30 on Boxing Day morning and doesn’t stop until the following afternoon, leaving roughly eight inches of fluff on the ground for the fierce wind to blow about for another day. It makes the northern Connecticut farmland nearby look especially Christmassy.

2. A rafter of more than sixty turkeys stop by after the storm subsided to take advantage of the berries on my mother’s bushes and my father’s full bird feeders. While most of the birds leave via the back property line, five of them are startled into ungainly flight, eventually landing in the trees.

3. This time of year is good for catching up with old friends. Cards roll in with photos of friends’ and relatives’ children and notes from those we haven’t heard from in a while. In reply to a text message requesting an address update, a former student announces he’s engaged and says he’ll call soon with an update. And although the weather prevents Karen and me from getting together while I’m up north, we do get the chance to chat on the phone three days in a row, which is absolutely lovely and something we don’t do enough of anymore.

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

Rudi and I head north this afternoon for the holidays. I anticipate a rollicking drive full of merriment and sing-alongs, but what’s more likely is one of us catching up on sleep while the other drives. I’m prepared for that, too: I have the audio version of The Christmas Carol queued up for Rudi’s naps.

But before we join the Christmas migration out of town, I wanted to share three beautiful things from my week past:

1. Sunday night we join a group for caroling. Bundled against the chill, we wandered with a dozen strangers through a neighborhood not our own, singing songs of wonder and joy. Children in pajamas were our favorite audiences, but the house where the owner requested a second song and then passed around a plate of cookies was pretty awesome, too.

2. Ten minutes before closing time at a big box store, I join the queue at a checkstand. The couple in front of me notice I only have one item and kindly invite me to jump ahead of them and their cart. I demur, but the clerk is fast so practically by the time I’m done thanking them for their offer, they’re ready to pay.

3. Rudi and I head out for the eclipse of the full moon. In the wee hours of the Solstice, the quiet, clear night affords us a magical viewing from a local traffic circle as we watch the moon diminish before our eyes.

What’s been beautiful in your world this week? Please share in the comments.

And, finally, before I sign off, I wanted to point you to this story featuring what started as one beautiful holiday thing that snowballed to encompass thousands of them. I warn you, it moved me to tears.

Eight days until Christmas people…

Three short and sweet beautiful things from my past week:

1. I find myself on the Hill for back-to-back parties. Charles and Jordi’s includes macaroons and the chance to trade knitting lessons for hair trims. Sarah’s party (co-hosted by Megan) provides the chance to watch childhood tv specials, eat a vast array of Christmas cookies, and meet Holden, Susan and Phillip’s one-month-old son, for the first time.

2. Twice this week it’s snowed in D.C. The first happens one night around midnight, when we look up from Holiday Inn to find flakes swirling outside our window. When the ground is essentially clear the next morning, we’re glad we responded by running outside. This morning’s snow arrives equally quickly but carries on longer, offering us glimpses of snowglobe-like weather each time we glance out the office windows. It also sticks around longer, giving us an inch-and-a-half of white on every surface.

3. I stop for a hot, fortifying beverage at the coffee stand before joining the 20-person-deep queue snaking around the front of store. The barista asks if I’d like him to ring up my purchases at the same time as my tea. Yes, please!

What’s been beautiful in your world this week?

Today was Thursday. How did that happen? I’ve accounted for the end of last week through Sunday, but where did the beginning of this week go?

However, if it is Thursday (and every calendar and computer has assured me that it really is), it must be time to reflect on three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Every year we drive out to Aldie, Virginia, to cut down our Christmas tree and then stop by the British Pantry to pick up a treat or two. Arriving a little earlier than usual this year, we ask if there’s an open table in the tearoom. After a delicious full tea with sandwiches and sweets, the matron asks us if we’d like a couple more scones because it’s the end of the day.

2. A few blocks from the Burrow an orange motorcycle with a sidecar sits parallel-parked. I wonder where its riders are and where they’re heading.

3. An impoverished man steps onto the Metro. He settles into a seat and gently nestles his aged, off-white accordion at his feet.

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

The first Thursday in December offers the opportunity for a holiday-themed spin to three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The young man outside Macy’s ringing the bell for Salvation Army has a rich tenor voice, which he uses to serenade passersby with “The Christmas Song.”

2. Over the summer in an excursion to my parents’ basement, I tracked down the cookie shooter templates that my grandmother had handed down to me when I still lived in Connecticut and it turns out that they went to my mother’s best shooter. So this year, instead of being stuck with the four shapes we’ve made do with years for our Christmas spritz cookies, we are able to branch out and add bells and poinsettias to our repertoire.

3. As Karen and I sit in a cafe sipping hot beverages, Santa Claus rides past on a fire truck.

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