I love the seasonal Top Ten Tuesday topics That Artsy Reader Girl posts, and, in a true surprise, I find from the last time around that I’ve finished five of the ten titles I included (and started three others). Sometimes I don’t get to any of them.

So here’s hoping that I actually get to a majority of the books I’m including today of the top ten titles on my to-be-read list for this winter:

1. The Rivals by Jane Pek
2. Back After This by Linda Holmes
3. Rainbow Rowell’s Slow Dance
4. Jasper Fforde’s Red Side Story
5. The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
6. Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune
7. Aliya and the Infinite City by Laila Rifaat
8. A Winter in New York by Josie Silver
9. Reynard the Fox by Anne Louise Avery
10. 1000 Words by Jami Attenberg

It helps that I own five of these books already and that several are by favorite authors. No excuses about the library holds list being too long!

How about you? What are you hoping to read this winter?

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?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Karen and I had lunch and a catch-up when I was up for Thanksgiving. I hadn’t been able to get away the past couple times I’d been north, so it felt particularly good to finally get several hours together with my oldest and dearest friend.

2. My journal has been lying neglected for months, with good intentions overwhelming any actual momentum. (I know, a common theme in my life.) But this week, I’d signed up for a little online writing session, and I wanted to do it on off the computer. So, I pulled it out and started working on some of the pages. It’s not caught up — not by a long shot. But pen has been put to paper again, and that feels really good.

3. Our new volleyball league started tonight, and Katie suggested going out afterwards, since she had to head to the airport later on. No one else was able to go, but I approach team outings with a “Yes and …” mentality, so the two of us got a chance to catch up one-on-one, which hasn’t happened in a year.

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

P.S. You may have noticed the Virtual Advent Tour is taking a hiatus this year. Apologies if you were looking for it and were surprised by the radio silence. I meant to share I was going to take 2024 off and reevaluate, but then I just never got around to it.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The drive up to my folks’ place on Wednesday really wasn’t bad, even though we were hours later than I’d hoped getting out of D.C. (my fault). It took only 9 hours, and that included stops for lunch, supper, and a bathroom break. And by leaving later, we got to see lots of the holiday light displays in the neighborhoods along the Garden State Parkway.

2. My first pumpkin pie was a success.

3. John, who runs volleyball with me on Saturdays, invited us to his karaoke birthday party. Rudi and I ended up staying out singing and playing pool until the wee hours, and then hit up the local doner place on our way home for some late night snackage.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My friend Anna came over to meet the kitties. Ember was particularly friendly.

2. We bought a new mattress to replace the memory foam one we bought to “tide us over” 12 years ago. This one is very firm and both we and the kittens are enjoying it tremendously.

3. After volleyball on Saturday, the pho place we were going to ended up being packed. So I suggested Immigrant Food, an informal fusion place I remembered from years ago, when I worked nearby, and everyone enjoyed it.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Coal, our wee small boy kitten, gained nearly a pound and a half in the two weeks since his previous vet visit. We worked hard to find food he’d eat when he first moved in, but our persistence and Ember’s example of what kitten mealtime should look like is paying off.

2. Julie’s 50th birthday bash included dancing at a bar, delicious cake, and seeing people I hadn’t had a chance to chat with in ages. Everyone had a very good time, including, I’m pretty sure, the birthday girl.

3. New sequels that I’ve been excited to read came off the hold list this week, so I promptly started reading them both. (In the stress around the election and its aftermath, escaping into books has been very appealing.)

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