Three beautiful things from the transition between 2016 and 2017:

1. I did not get the majority of my Christmas cards out before the 25th, as I’d hoped, but finished them instead in the days leading up to New Year’s Eve, which I justified as being part of the Twelve Days of Christmas and therefore perfectly fine. (I’m happy receiving mail at any point of the year. I’m trusting my friends and family are, too.) In need of a change of scenery, I packed up my stationery and relocated to a nearby cake shop. They had Christmas-themed cupcakes, a friendly barista who told me not to waste my money on their hot chocolate, comfy armchairs, a gigantic coffee table to spread my stuff out on, and a Christmas tree and other holiday decorations. (Also, when they forgot anyone was left upstairs, they switched to a very loud and upbeat playlist.) It was the nicest belated card-writing venue I could have asked for.

2. Sarah, Rudi, and I spent our traditional New Year’s Eve out at the movies. We had a pizza supper, walked over to admire the City Center Christmas tree, and watched Rogue One (a fine addition to the canon with a talented and diverse international cast), La La Land (ear wormy soundtrack, great costumes, and excellent cinematography), and Hidden Figures (phenomenal! a rare combination of a well-crafted script and gifted performances deserving of all the awards it should garner) over the course of ten hours. As always, it was a low-key, but special way to turn the page on the year.

3. Two of the three orchids my uncle sent me for my birthday four years ago are still alive, and, when I left for the holidays, there were buds on both. The nicest part of returning to work on Tuesday was discovering two of the buds on the yellow orchid had blossomed:

My uncle died three years ago this month, and I like to think the orchids blooming around Christmas — which he loved and for which he always provided a goodie bag to us, complete with scratch-off lottery tickets — are his way of making sure I have a nice holiday.

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

Three beautiful things from this past week of Christmas:

1. Being up north for Christmas allows me to spend time with not just my parents, but also Karen and her kids and my friend Eric. Our trip is shorter than usual, so I’m especially glad for those visits.

2. A friend phones to share news of her pregnancy.

3. I finally have time to poach the quince I didn’t get to (neither back when I bought them in November or before leaving for Connecticut):

Tami had inquired about my plans to poach the quince earlier in the month, so I thought I’d share in case there were others who didn’t yet know about this fruit. Quince are a member of the Rosaceae family and are related to apples and pears (both farms I’ve encountered who sell them at my markets are, indeed, orchards). When quince ripen in the late fall, they’re green-yellow to bright yellow and range in size from from a medium apple to a grapefruit. They’re also covered in a fine fuzz.

The most noticeable thing about them, though, is their strong scent. They have an intoxicating floral odor that I don’t think can be confused with anything else.

Most varietals can’t be eaten raw (they’re too tough — somewhere between kohlrabi and squash, I’d say — and too tart), so they require peeling, coring, slicing, and cooking. I use Clotilde’s recipe.

After they’ve poached for a few hours, they turn a lovely shade of pink. They mix in well with yogurt and oatmeal, and I may try Clotilde’s cake or tartlette recipe this year, since I have most of a big stockpot full. If you’ve ever eaten Spanish/Middle Eastern membrillo, that’s quince paste (quince is really high in pectin), and Wikipedia informs me that marmalade originally referred to a rough-chopped quince jam. Every way I’ve ever eaten it, it’s delicious.

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

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time to think back on three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A delivery guy rides a Hoverboard while pushing his empty lunch cart back to the restaurant.

2. I have an appointment in the late afternoon that puts me outside just at sunset. The sky is purple and pink and orange and lovely.

3. I see the bus turn onto the block while I’m still on the other side of the cross street. I wave, because that’s what you do when you just want to get home, and in a rare move, the bus driver pulls over to the stop, despite his green light, to wait for me.

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

Three beautiful things from this past week:

1. Susan invites me to join their family for the annual tuba concert at the Kennedy Center. This year, it’s held in the concert hall, rather than the atrium, which means we are literally surrounded by tubas, sousaphones, and euphoniums on all sides. Also, it’s very exciting when they ask kids in the audience to help out with “Jingle Bells” and their daughter heads up on stage.

2. My coworker and I brave the cold to go out for a bowl of soup and to catch up on how our holiday prep is going.

3. My Secret Santa (arranged by The Broke & The Bookish) package arrived and is full of anticipatory pleasure: it contains a dozen wrapped items for me to open over the coming days. (I’ll share them all with you later on…) Thanks, Gina, for so much fun!

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Our Christmas party went well: no one showed up on time; people brought — and left — cookies; and folks seemed to have a good time. Plus, I had an enthusiastic young assistant helping me hang ornaments on the tree. She got the bottom edge of the tree thoroughly decorated!

2. The first clementines of the season are so sweet.

3. Rudi, who is an extrovert, has lots of friends, who are very kind and invite him to lots of events. I am an introvert and prefer only to attend parties where I already know the people. For this past week’s party, we agree that he’ll go by himself and I’ll swing by at the end and pick him up on my way home from the office. That way, I only had to stay for 15 minutes, but it didn’t seem rude my not joining him.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A jeep drives past with colorful lights on its roof rack.

2. Everyone’s enthusiastic responses to the Virtual Advent Tour. You all rock!

3. I know from my washing method of peanut butter jars that the easiest way to empty out my ancient jar of Fluff is to pour the cocoa into it, tightly close the lid, and shake it around (over the sink). A scrape of the the spoon for the stubborn bits, and I can empty it back into my cup.

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