Here we go, new week.  I’m starting it off really tired.  Last week was draining – between travel for Steve on the same day that I had a lengthy court appearance (necessitating a backup to the backup plan for picking up the kids from school) and a potential development at the end of the week that would be really exciting – but is currently uncertain – I have not been able to sleep much at all and I’m exhausted and jumpy.  Saturday was a wild pendulum of ups and downs – a kiddo birthday party with Nugget’s class, and a highly satisfactory library book sale haul (including three British Library Crime Classics) on the up side, and an upsetting email from the school and lots of self-doubt on the down.  In the evening, Steve and I went to my office holiday party and had a completely decent time, so that’s another up.

On Sunday we packed up snacks and drove out to Little Washington (also known as Washington, Virginia – a tiny postage stamp-sized town a little more than an hour outside of D.C.) for the annual Christmas in Little Washington parade and market.  It’s one of our favorite holiday traditions and we’ve been able to make it happen almost every year.  This was a good one; the kids collected a respectable pile of candy and saw Santa riding in a white convertible.  I mused to Steve that Peanut and Nugget are growing up with parade memories that are basically the polar opposite of my own childhood parade experiences.  My family used to attend the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan every year, and we also went to the Santa Barbara Fiesta parade – both massive, crowded extravaganzas.  These two will remember small-town parades and scrambling to pick up mini candy canes tossed by the local Girl Scouts.  Just as good – but so different.  It was a nice day, and I needed it to calm my racing mind after last week.

Books.  Kind of a slow reading week.  I’ve found it hard to focus on a book, especially toward the end of the week.  Reading is usually my escape, but recently it’s been hard to get into that frame of mind – even when I know it will help – if I am overwhelmed and anxious, which I have been for various reasons all week.  I finished up Not That It Matters on Tuesday, but then wasn’t able to really settle in and read for more than a few minutes here and there all week, which explains why I am still only about halfway through A Fatal Grace.  I am enjoying it (although why does Louise Penny feel compelled to comment on each character’s body type? it’s distracting and unnecessary) and hoping for a more laid-back week ahead so I can concentrate on reading again.

Watching.  The Little Washington Christmas parade, of course!  And the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas – the kids’ first viewing.  I found it on YouTube; they were transfixed.  Steve and I snuck in a few episodes of The Great British Bake-Off over the course of the week, and we also enjoyed a highly amusing spectacle on Saturday night – my co-workers engaged in a spirited game of disco musical chairs.  That’s something you don’t see every day.

Listening.  Just podcasts, here and there.  I listened to The Mom Hour‘s series on holiday memories, which was lovely.  And a few different holiday book recommendation shows – Book Riot, What Should I Read Next?, and The Read-Aloud Revival.

Making.  Again, nothing much.  I took butter out of the fridge a few times, intending to bake vanillekipfurl (traditional Austrian vanilla-almond crescent cookies) but never made it happen.  Next weekend I have big plans to bake up a few batches of Christmas cookies to share at work.

Blogging.  I have a fun week ahead for you.  On Wednesday, Elizabeth von Arnim on Christmas preparations (and the fun of shirking your duty) and on Friday, the rest of the snaps from that epic lion yawn I caught on camera.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  A former co-worker’s email about another former co-worker’s Jane Austen-themed wedding got me remembering this article about an Anne of Green Gables wedding photoshoot I saw a few years ago, and I fell down the rabbit hole of scrolling through the pictures over and over again, smiling at the Anne and Gilbert lookalike models, the raspberry cordial table, the rowboat and White Way of Delight pictures, and all the little details plucked from the books and recreated into the perfect wedding.  If I was getting married today, I might try to convince Steve that we should do this.  I don’t think he’d go for it today (but I’ll bet he would have back when we were actually engaged…).

Asking.  What are you reading this week?