Welcome back, folks! I hope you had a great weekend, full of productivity or relaxation, whichever you needed more. I crossed a couple things off my list, but it’s still going to be a busy final week. I’m looking forward to it, though. I do find a looming deadline to be exhilarating.

Today the Virtual Advent Tour returns you to raidergirl3 at An Adventure in Reading. She has a fun, photo-filled post for you about counting down the season.

I’ll see you back here tomorrow morning when we’ll count down yet one more day until Christmas!

Greetings, fellow Adventers! (I’d prefer Adventists, but that’s already been taken…)

We’re down to the single digits on our tour and are narrowing in on the final fortnight of the year. I hope you have enjoyed both so far and find the remainder to be pleasant for you and yours.

Today our tour once again returns to Kat at As Kat Knits, who has a letter to her granddaughter offering some intergenerational entertainment suggestions.

Thanks, once again for stopping by my blog and following along on the Virtual Advent Tour. See you tomorrow for another post!

It’s the weekend! I hope you have a lot of fun things planned or are able to cross a lot of things off your list, depending on which makes you happier.

I am your host once again today and thought I’d share some more music with you. Every year, I make a Christmas cd, which tends to get finalized rather late in the game (by which I mean I’m still working on this year’s). Earlier this month, I shared songs that were new to me this Christmas season and thus in consideration for the 2018 mix; today I thought I’d give you a few that made last year’s cut.

This is from the stage production, Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn, a remake of the 1942 musical film of the same name. I saw parts of it on PBS’ Great Performances last year, and knew this would make a great intro song.

Here’s a Caribbean riff on a holiday classic (written by Robert Allen and Al Stillman) from the Calypso King of the World, Mighty Sparrow (Slinger Francisco):

My household embraces a lot of different types of music, and while I don’t actively seek out country music especially often during the rest of the year, come Christmastime, a little twang feels necessary and right. “There’s a New Kid in Town” was written by Don Cook, Curly Putnam and Keith Whitley and first recorded by Michael Johnson in 1985, but it’s been recorded by everyone from George Strait to Blake Shelton. This version is from 2017 and is by bluegrass siblings The Roys.

Finally, this is “Light of the World,” by the Blenders from their 2017 album, Holy Night. If you like their sound, this Minneapolis-based band has been playing together for more than 25 years and have several Christmas albums to their names. Paul Mabury, Paul Duncan, and Lauren Daigle wrote the song, which Daigle released in 2013.

See you back here tomorrow for another stop on the Virtual Advent Tour!

Happy Friday, dear friends. I hope that you are calmly and restfully moving through your holiday preparations list, be it one you have on paper, on your phone, or in your head.

Behind today’s calendar door, we have a trip back to Judith’s blog, Reader in the Wilderness, where she has some more seasonal reading suggestions.

See you tomorrow!

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I was along the river as the sun set last Friday, allowing me to see a spectacular view over Rosslyn. My shots here give you an idea of the colors, but Flickr mutes reds terribly, so just know it was even more breathtaking in person.

2. I passed the Mexican Embassy while out walking today and noticed for the first time a sign informing me it was housed in part of what had once been known as “The Seven Buildings,” which had served as home, over time, to the Declaration of Independence, the Department of State, and President and First Lady Madison, as they waited for the White House to be rebuilt after the War of 1812. The sign has been there for the past 8 years, but today was the first time I saw it, which I love, because it means there’s always something new to be seen, even if it isn’t new.

3. While stopping by the library earlier this week, I saw a person on a bicycle laden down with packages and helium balloons, clearly en route to a celebration. There were at least a dozen balloons and maybe closer to two, and the cyclist was having a hard time maneuvering while keeping the balloons from floating back into her view. After futzing with them at the red light, though, she finally got all the strings tucked under her arms and was able to carry on her way. (This now tops my previous most interesting cycling sight of the month, which was when I saw a young woman using her bike as a dolly to carry a seven foot Christmas tree from the farmers market to home on her own.)

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

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