Things that have made me happy this past week:

-Christmas music! We have an entire music channel that's just traditional holiday music; none of this awful contemporary pop crap.

-Grilling outside at 6:00pm, already pitch-black, hands and face numb; there is nothing that tastes better once you come in to eat.

-Hot cocoa from scratch.



-Playing with Jack in my Grandpa's backyard, as he runs through the piles of leaves that come up to his head; at one point, he ran so fast he fell down and rolled completely over, then jumped up and barked at me with such great insistence I too became convinced the fall was somehow my fault.

-Putting a quilt and a comforter on my bed. At the same time.

-My first peppermint mocha at Starbucks this year.

-Making the banner up above, starting The Silmarillion, realizing they start principal photography on The Hobbit next year, exactly ten years after they began photography on The Lord of the Rings.

It's getting to be that time of year again, when Thanksgiving is something you plan for and not just a vague, turkey-scented possibility on the horizon, when you start thinking about Christmas presents and finding decorations. You know. The time of year I start rereading Lord of the Rings in preparation for watching all the movies and specials and behind the scenes features, a process that if I start now, I might finish by New Years.

It's also the time of year when Canada's like, "Oh, hey, WANT SOME WIND?" I had to close my car door with both hands today.