I came home and then mostly finished the wrapping. There are only a few small items left to do. The sibling presents (minus the 15-year-old’s since he ordered online for delivery today or tomorrow) are under the real, more informal tree (my kids call this the “tree of the people.”). The family presents for Christmas day are under the “fancy tree”  (the fake one with all white/silver/gold lighting and ornaments). My extended family’s presents are in my office, to be taken out when they show up this weekend.

I’m thinking maybe next year a goal could be to finish more of the shopping earlier. I start to feel more relaxed about Christmas when everything is procured and wrapped. So if this was done at Thanksgiving, December could mostly be about experiences.

Easier said than done of course, as people change their minds about their Christmas lists, and there are more gift-oriented items on sale by December. But something to think about.

In the meantime, here is a currently-unnamed sonnet. Looking for something catchy as a title!

Before the stars, before the planets set
into their orbits, which define a day
and year, then what was time? The alphabet
came after words, one could still chance to say

“I love you” never knowing what was “v”
or “l” or what it meant to write a thought.
These constructs come after the thing, we see
our rules imposed on things existing not

because of rules — and yet, how good to know
that if we say we’ll meet at 3 p.m.
at the appointed point of spin we’ll go
to our shared spot on earth and on a whim

we’ll write each other notes, sweet nothings, such —
these lines that mean so little and so much.

It is…a lot of work. I’ve also been working hard on learning my Bach for the B-Minor mass. I’m happy to report that at rehearsal on Monday I knew my notes cold. I never got lost, even in those long runs of crazy 5 or 6 part harmony where I’m in the middle of everything (second soprano line). Now the goal is to mostly be able to look up and to really be able to listen to everyone else.

I am really enjoying the music, though. Hopefully the music will sound like magic, remembering the line that “all magic is just labor, hidden well.” I suppose that is true of the writing of this piece three centuries ago too!

In the meantime, I went to one band concert this week, and I have another kid band concert and choir concert to go to next week. Today I read at the preschool to celebrate the 4-year-old’s upcoming birthday. That happens over the holiday break, so we’re celebrating ahead of time. This weekend there is a choir concert and breakfast with Santa and an office holiday party. And hopefully a little downtime for puzzles.

In the meantime, some of this week’s content….Over at Vanderhacks (my Substack newsletter), I talked about “How to embrace the resolutions preseason” (that one’s behind the paywall). I also suggested that people “Find a micro-hobby” to celebrate their time confetti, and I wrote about how “Open space invites opportunity.” Please consider either a free or paid subscription!

Before Breakfast also had some holiday content, with a suggestion to “Give experiences,” and to “Remember to enjoy yourself.” (Worth noting this time of year!) I also interviewed the incredibly prolific romance and thriller novelist Sarina Bowen. She talked about how she gets ideas, keeps track of her ideas, and then executes on these ideas (to the tune of multiple bestselling books a year; her thriller The Five Year Lie recently hit #1 for thrillers on Audible). Please check that out too!