It’s December! I can’t wait to say goodby to this year. I have been busily teaching, and making lists and plans. It really is nice to see smiling spinners on my computer screen.

Lately, I’ve been making a real effort to notice small things that make me smile, small contentments. Here are three from this week.

My advent calendar. Who doesn’t love a little bit of chocolate before breakfast? My grandparents were German and sent me a chocolate advent calendar every year growing up.

Now I buy a big stack every year and hand them out to friends and family, spreading the chocolate joy.

I made Henry a hat and he loves it. I used Kate Atherley’s new brilliant book Custom Fit Hats and Harrisville’s Nightshades yarn in Talk Radio (black with purple). Henry has lots of curly hair and it’s always been hard to get a fit right on a hat, Kate’s book solved that in our first go. It’s also a great book for knitting hats with handspun.

This is the only thing I have finished, that is not work or a swatch, since Covid started. I may have gotten a bit misty over it.

I’ve started a new book every day for the past two weeks, and none of them have stuck. This morning I started The Duke & I by Julia Quinn. It’s the book the series Bridgerton (Netflix, starting Christmas day.) is based on. It is such frothy fun, that I am promising myself one chapter after every work task I finish today.

What has made you smile lately?