This year’s #TBTBSanta was a wonderful success. I sent cards and a box of gifts out into the world and received some in return.

Holiday cards arrived from places as far flung as New Mexico and Alaska:

Thank you Rochelle, Heather, Lark, Denise, and Melissa!

And here is the wonderful package I got, which I took up to Connecticut to open on Christmas itself:

As you can see, Kai spoiled me:

There was a new tshirt, two books I’d really been coveting, bookmarks, stationery, stickers, lip balm, a pin, a bracelet, socks, pens, tea, and tasty treats.

And Kai made sure Ember and Coal were included, too. Ember didn’t even make it down to the floor with her treat. She stopped on the sofa to munch it.

And Coal, in perhaps one of his boldest moments yet, grabbed that feathery toy and bolted with it! This is the best shot I could get. All the rest were blurs!

Thank you so much, Kai! This was such a lovely gift!

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi, my parents, and I had a very nice Christmas. Presents were given, food was consumed, long distance greetings were exchanged, wrapping paper shootout was held (Rudi won, but he was the closest to the bags), and music was sung along with. We wound down watching a movie in front of the fire.

2. John reached out on Saturday to suggest dinner out with Rudi and Jasen, and our pal Ellie ended up joining, as well. It was really nice to gather together one last Saturday before the end of the year.

3. Jordan, Jasen, and I watched the NCAA Division 1 volleyball finals together on Sunday. Texas A & M put together a Cinderella story clinic, beating a number 2 and three number 1 seeds (including undefeated Nebraska!) on their way to their first championship in program history. Their blockers were on point after they got past their jitters in the first set. And it was great to watch with friends who love volleyball as much as I do.

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

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share the books that have most recently been added to our collections. I had an excellent Jólabókaflóð, or Christmas book flood, so all eleven titles (technically 14 individual books) below arrived at the Burrow in the past month, courtesy of Karen, Rudi, my mother, and Kathleen:

1. Haikyu!! Vol. 1 and #4-6 by Haruichi Furudate (I read the first manga back in 2018, have since devoured the anime multiple times, and now am hoping to read all 45 books before the final movie comes out (next year maybe?).)
2. Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
3. Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
4. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
5. Bake Club by Christina Tosi
6. Death Comes at Christmas edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane
7. Into the Uncut Grass by Trevor Noah
8. Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge
9. The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
10. Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
11. Fangirl (graphic novel Vol. 1) by Rainbow Rowell adapted by Sam Maggs and illustrated by Gabi Nam

How about you? Have new books moved into your home recently?

Every year, Jana of That Artsy Reader Girl, generously keeps up the tradition of Secret Santa started at the now defunct The Broke and the Bookish, where she sends your info to someone and sends you an entirely different person’s info. There are different levels for participation and I’m sure it takes a lot of energy to get everyone squared away, and that’s all before people start having challenges (such as anyone sending to or from Canada this holiday season). So, every year she runs it, I and the hundreds of other people who look forward to this annual tradition are terribly grateful to her.

This year, my package arrived early (mine snuck out at the deadline and arrived, like the real Santa, on Christmas Eve). I always admire the folks who wait. And sometimes I let the box sit a couple days to get closer to Christmas, but I never make it all the way to the holiday. I’m too excited and impatient!

Kathleen, my Santa, hails from Delaware and put together a fanciful package full of books and other delights. First is a list of places I might want to visit in her home state (and nearby Pennsylvania), and since we’re just a couple hours away and since Delaware is home to my favorite beaches in the area, we will be checking them off. She also tucked in a couple rolls of pretty washi tape and a pen from her work, which, coincidentally and unbeknownst to her, is also the name of the neighborhood where I live in D.C.

Because she knew we’d recently acquired kittens, she included this delightful ornament, which I put well out of reach of the felines (although, to be fair, Coal has challenged my understanding of what that means).

Kathleen made this ornament for me. It includes quotes from The Princess Bride, one of my favorite movies and a terrific book. It is also out of reach of the cats, because I think they would love to find their way inside to take all those quotation scrolls and squirrel them away under furniture.

There is tea and a single person teapot with a cherry blossom motif (it’s required with D.C. citizenship to love cherry blossoms), perfect for putting on a tray within reach as you read on the couch. Kathleen included some delicious spicy holiday jam, a local product filled with berries and jalapeño, and which has been giving my morning toast that extra something something to help start winter mornings.

And finally, the books. She gave me the first of the manga adaptations of Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl, which I’m very excited to see how they put that together. She also gave me Evie Woods’ The Lost Bookshop, which looks so good. And finally, she gave me Elin Hildebrand’s Winter in Paradise. I’ve read the first two books in Hildebrand’s Winter Street series, and this is the first in a newer wintry series set in the Caribbean instead of Nantucket. I love a beach read when it’s cold outside!

Kathleen, thank you so much. I love everything and am looking forward to hours of reading and drinking tea this winter! Happy #TBTBSanta!

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Jasen sent a Christmas card saying how much he values everything I do for the team and a gift for the kittens.

2. Sunday afternoon, I run across town in a desperate bid to finish my Christmas list. I am delighted to discover that Sarah, who’d been ill, is up and doing one final shift at her old job to help them out with the rush. She helps me with my shopping, and since she won’t be back in time to join us for our New Year’s Eve tradition this year, it feels particularly good to see her one last time in 2024.

3. Christmas was lovely, with a slow start to the day after Mum & I were up late wrapping. I think everyone liked their presents, the dinner was delicious, and we finished the night with The Bishop’s Wife, most of which Mum & I dozed through.

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

Oops. Karen texted to ask me why I hadn’t posted this week, and I thought, “But I did!” But that was last week. Not this week. Ahem. I feel like I’m a little young to be claiming such forgetfulness, but I’m going to do it anyway.

Here, slightly belatedly, are three beautiful things from last week:

1. Our tree trimming was last weekend, and it was a fun event. We had folks from our earliest political days in D.C. (and their teenaged children!!!) and bikey friends and volleyball friends, and while everyone important to us here couldn’t make it (and thank goodness, because we most certainly would not have had room for them all), it felt like a nice balance of the people who make this home. (The photo shows the crew who stayed until the end of the night, with thanks to John for thinking to take a picture.)

2. While Rebecca gamely produced a steady stream of nearly all our ornaments to get them on the tree in record time during the party, I always pull aside a bag that contains the ones Rudi likes best so he can add them himself afterwards. He tucked them onto the tree during the week and then whisked the Christmas box back to our storage unit so it wasn’t cluttering up the living room.

3. While last season it took until the very end of the season to drop a set, this season the team lost our opening game in the second week. And then we were down in the second set, too. But we kept our cool and kept talking and won the second set and then dominated the tie-breaker, which felt extraordinarily good.

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