1. Morning walks. We got to walk all three of us together a few times this week. To be fair, we could have done that every day but some mornings Eric and Ringo went and were back before I even got out of bed. We still haven’t had any snow. The forecast keeps teasing it and then taking it away again. I think this is the latest we’ve ever gone without any snow in the 25+ years I’ve lived here. 

2. Ringo got his own apartment for one night. Eric and I were so tired one night, we forgot to put Ringo in his bed, or rather I thought Eric had and he thought I had and Ringo was so crashed out in the living room he didn’t even notice us go to bed and slept out there the whole night. When Eric went to let Ringo out of his crate in the morning, half asleep still, he found the door open and the crate empty, but still he stayed there for a few minutes, saying over and over, “he’s not in there, where is he?” We both got up and walked down the hall and by the time Eric turned on the kitchen light, Ringo was up and heading in for breakfast. I always thought if we left him out, he’d come find us to remind us, maybe even try to get in our bed, or that he’d go outside at some point and I’d wake up to hear him barking in the backyard. None of those things happened. He just slept and so did we. We aren’t going to repeat it though. I like him sleeping where I can hear him.

3. Thanksgiving. It may have been the quietest one yet. We spent the day, just the three of us, cooking and napping and eating. I texted with my brother and he called his dad, but we both were missing our moms.

4. Reading. I just realized that I probably read 2-4 hours every day, which is more time than I spend doing anything else, besides sleeping.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I’ve told Eric every day this week how glad I am that he’s home, after being in California most of last week for a work conference. He’s got about two weeks of work left before winter break and next semester he’s on sabbatical to finish a book he and his teaching partner have been working on and then it will be summer break, so soon and for a while I’ll get to see a lot more of him. 

Bonus joy: stuffing (or since I don’t stuff a bird with it, maybe I should call it dressing?), apple pie, having all the laundry done, the way Eric cleans when he’s bored, pay day, stained glass, my Merlin app, sunshine even on a cold day, birds, Hendrix’s school picture, other people’s kids and dogs, cat purrs, down blankets and pillows, a big glass of cold clean water, grapefruit Bubly, grocery shopping, listening to podcasts, listening to audio books, watching good TV, movies on demand, streaming content, libraries and librarians, poetry and poets, texts from Chloe’ and Kari and Shellie, still laughing about Maria and Jackie’s comedy shows, that Andrea Gibson gave so many interviews and made so many videos so I can still hear their voice and see their face, that “the girls” started reading again now that they are older so I can share my favorite books with them, dinner plans with Chelsey and Jon, Christmas lights, napping, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.