Still liking my streamlined and pared-down Monday posts, so still looking at a quarterly catch-up to show you what other media I’ve been into lately. It’s hard to believe that it’s already the end of November – Thanksgiving tomorrow! – because I feel like summer just fizzled out yesterday. But here we are, staring down another holiday season. As life gets busier, television and movies tend to be the first thing to go – I’ll prioritize reading when time is limited – but I did manage to watch some good stuff despite an especially hectic fall.

Hamilton at the Kennedy Center. Highlight no. 1 of fall viewing was Hamilton, performed live by the Philip Tour company at the Kennedy Center in D.C. This was the third time I’ve seen the show live – once on Broadway, and another time at the Kennedy Center – and it was as wonderful as ever. Something I really enjoyed this time around: seeing the actors put their own spin on lines I know so well from the soundtrack, the original Broadway cast on Disney+, and other performances. For instance, in the song “Non-Stop,” when Hamilton sings the line “Burr, you’re a better lawyer than me,” Leslie Odom Jr. has sung his response “Okay…” in a manner suggesting that he’s skeptical of where Hamilton is going with this. This time, the actor playing Aaron Burr sang the line “Okay!” as if to say “Finally, you acknowledge that I’m better!” It was a little thing, but fun to look out for those little differences in tone and to spot the different actors bringing their own interpretations to these much-loved characters. In case you can’t tell, I had a great time.

Nugget, sports-ing. Highlight no. 2 of fall viewing – this is a highlight in any season, really – was Nugget, tearing it up on sports fields and race courses and swimming pools. He’s gotten into sports in a big way lately and he’s a shockingly good athlete (no idea where he gets that from). This fall, he played pre-travel soccer, leveled up twice in his swim lessons (and is on the final class level before he graduates from Goldfish Swim School and has to decide whether he wants to join their swim team or bid goodbye to his Saturdays in the pool) and ran his first in-person running race (the Marine Corps Marathon Kids’ Run). We don’t push him to do any of these things – he is genuinely enjoying himself. It’s so cool to see him come into his own and experience the excitement and joy of reaching his goals. I’m a proud sports mom.

Andor. Family viewing lately has been the most recent Star Wars series to drop on Disney+ – Andor. I really liked the character of Cassian Andor in Rogue One, so it’s been fun to watch his backstory. We’ve been watching the series as a family (or at least, Steve and Nugget and I have been watching; Peanut drifts in and out and often reads during family TV time, which is fine with me) and just finished it up recently. I liked it much better than The Book of Boba Fett, but not nearly as much as The Mandalorian, which is still the gold standard of TV in my house.

The Pale Horse. After listening to Agatha Christie’s weird and chilling tale of murder by supernatural… or maybe ordinary… means, I wanted to watch the recent television adaptation with Steve. Turns out it was nothing like the book.

The Great British Baking Show. Whew! That’s a lot of intense television viewing – more so than usual, and as someone who gets stressed out during cake decorating shows, it’s been a lot of heart-pounding. We’ve been sprinkling in the latest season of The Great British Baking Show – every weekend when a new episode drops – to calm down and get some restful viewing in too. We all just love this show and can’t get enough of it.

What are you watching this season?