This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl is one of my seasonal favorites: what sits atop my to-be read list for the winter:

1. Sonali Dev’s The Vibrant Years
2. A Tale of Two Princes by Eric Geron
3. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
4. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
5. Hugh Bonneville’s Playing under the Piano
6. Bookish People by Susan Coll
7. Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell
8. Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper
9. Lynn Steger Strong’s Flight
10. An Immense World by Ed Yong

What are you looking forward to reading in the upcoming season?

Also, if you haven’t been following along, check out the Virtual Advent Tour!

Today brings us to the halfway point in our Virtual Advent Tour, and to celebrate, I’m sending you right back on the road!

My very best friend in the whole world, who writes at Blue-Footed Musings, has taken on the task of composing today’s post. She’s written a bit about time and then given us a fun tie-in, so make sure you head over there now!

I’ll see you back here tomorrow!

First off, Happy Gaudete, the third Sunday of Advent:

When Rudi and I went to Iceland a number of years ago now, one of the fun things we pre-scheduled was to attend a “bedtime story,” in which we were read a Christmas picture book (and sated with cocoa and Christmas cookies).

We came home with copies of that book, which focused on the Yule Lads and which we’ve shared with friends over the years. But the real magic is in being read to, so I thought I’d share a few options with you.

First, while this isn’t the exact book we were read, it’s based on the same folklore: Christmas Is Coming by Jóhannes úr Kötlum with illustrations by Tryggvi Magnusson:

Next up, we have Sutton Foster reading us Memoirs of an Elf by Devin Scillian with illustrations by Tim Bowers:

Finally, a classic, The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, read by the classic Liam Neeson:

Do you have a favorite holiday picture book you revisit every year?

While I enjoy a good holiday commercial, mostly I see commercials because I’m watching holiday specials.

Today I thought I’d share three of my favorite songs from Christmas cartoons:

From ‘Twas the Night before Christmas, “Even a Miracle Needs a Hand”:

“We’re a Couple of Misfits” from Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer:

And, finally, “When Christmas Comes Around” from The Polar Express:

Do you have a favorite song from a holiday special?

A wise blogger would have remembered the outdated phone she uses as a camera these days when she went out, but tonight I was not that person. So, I’ll show you some of the holiday sights of D.C. another day.

I am absolutely a sucker for commercials that tug at the heartstrings, particularly near the holidays. I mean, I won’t necessarily buy your stuff (or, in fact, stop criticizing your company if you’re on my naughty list), but I’ll at least stop and pay attention to your commercial for 30 seconds.

You’ve probably seen the short version of this commercial from an online retailer. Watch the long version:

Kroger and Coca Cola both had similar thoughts this year:

I haven’t seen even an abridged version of this one from Chevy on tv, but it’s a tearjerker:

U.K. businesses are the best at Christmas commercials. Here are a couple of my favorites from this year.

John Lewis steps it up every year:

I really appreciate when a commercial is just in it for the holiday spirit and has nothing to do with what they actually sell, like this British clothing company:

And I’ll leave you with the National Trust’s Christmas shop for my knitters:

If you’re also a sucker for this kind of commercial, you can see a whole playlist of them from around the world here or just the U.K. ones. I might be inclined to set the playlists running while I was wrapping gifts, as something festive in the background, but not so distracting that I’d get sucked in for long periods of time.

Have you seen any Christmas commercials that you’ve loved so far this year?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. One of my teammates brings me an ornament for our tree. “I picked it because its skirt reminded me of your Halloween costume.”

2. My brother and his partner were visiting my folks and so I got to talk to Josh, as well as my parents when I called on Wednesday.

3. I did a little Christmas shopping on the Hill this evening, and decided to talk home across town, since it was dry and warm. I passed the Eastern Market tree, the Congressional tree, and the White House tree (not as gaudy as many past years), as well as the ice skating at the sculpture garden.

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