I have one last delights post for you in 2022. It’s hard to believe that the next time I write one of these will be a new year.

• I saw a woman out walking the other day while reading a book. I love to read, but I have never been someone who walks and reads at the same time. I honestly don’t know how people do it. I would especially be wary about doing it around where I live because the sidewalks are all old and uneven from years of tree roots and bad weather. I definitely appreciate someone who is so engrossed in their book that they can’t stop reading it even while they’re walking somewhere.
• In my previous post about the TV shows we’ve been watching I mentioned that we were watching an Italian show on Netflix called I Hate Christmas. It’s 6 episodes long and 6 days out from Christmas my husband put it on and was like we have to watch one episode a night to countdown to Christmas. He was very pleased with himself over this arrangement. It amused me.
• I’m on break from work until January 3. It’s one of the great benefits of working in academia that I always get the week between Christmas and New Year’s off. Not only is it great to have the time off to rest and relax, it’s also really nice that everyone else has it off too so that when I go back I won’t be walking back into 500 emails and a millions tasks that piled up while I was gone because everyone else was still working.
• For the third year in a row we unfortunately did not see my family at Christmas. However, this year was much better than the last two because my husband and I didn’t spend the holidays alone. I got to go to my church’s Christmas Eve service. Then we went over to my husband’s younger sister’s house to spend Christmas Eve with her family. We ate delicious steak and lobster and taught my niece and nephew how to play Clue. Then on Christmas Day we went to down northern Virginia to see his other sister. It wasn’t what we originally planned, but our last minute plans came together nicely and made for a good holiday.
• While we were there my niece and nephew opened the Christmas gifts that we gave them. My niece was very excited about the 40 oz insulated travel mug we gave her. The thing is ridiculously large. She will definitely be well hydrated in 2023. Granted, it’s something she told us she wanted, so it’s not like we are these brilliant gift giving geniuses, and her delight over this particular gift may have been supplanted by all the other gifts she got the next morning, but I did very much her enthusiasm over this mug.
• One things I have enjoyed about not traveling on Christmas for the last few years like we normally do is making these Cranberry Orange rolls to eat for breakfast on Christmas morning. I did get a little laugh when I pulled up the recipe this year and noticed the note they had added to it last year with substitutions for the cream cheese in it due to the cream cheese shortage. I had totally forgotten about that particular crazy shortage.
• One of my friends texted me on Christmas morning to tell me about how her mother’s neighbor got their daughter a miniature horse for Christmas and they brought it over to meet them. The best part is the horse’s name is Cheez-It! I didn’t even meet the horse and I was delighted about the existence of this horse all day. In fact I still am. Cheez-It!