Happy day-after-Christmas, a day with a very specific atmosphere that I particularly enjoy. Almost always, my family and I are in Kansas City for Christmas, but this year, my mother traveled to New York City to spend the time with us here. Thinking about the atmosphere of these days reminded me of one of my favorite passages from Bob Dylan’s brilliant, mysterious memoir Chronicles: Volume One:

[Robert] Johnson’s words made my nerves quiver like piano wires. They were so elemental in meaning and feeling and gave you so much of the inside picture…Also, all the songs had some weird personal resonance. Throwaway lines, like “If today were Christmas Eve and tomorrow were Christmas Day,” I could feel that in my bones—that particular yuletide time of the year.

Onward,

5 Things Making Me Happy

 1 

One item on my “25 for ’25 list” was to participate in Simon Haisell’s “Slow Read” of War and Peace. What a joy this project has been! I loved being submerged in that world for an entire year. The first time I read the novel, I read it fast (despite what you might think, it really is a page-turner), and reading just one chapter each day helped me to absorb it. For instance, now every time I walk through the Met, I think of Pierre:

All at once he felt that this would not do, and that tonight he was a person obliged to perform some sort of awful rite which everyone expected of him, and that he was therefore bound to accept their services. He took the glove in silence from the adjutant, and sat down in the lady’s chair, placing his huge hands symmetrically on his knees in the naive attitude of an Egyptian statue.

 2 

I’m always delighted to learn a new word. I recently discovered that the spiral- or scroll-shaped embellishments found on many classical-style columns are called volutes. It’s also the name for a family of marine snails with beautiful spiral shells. 

 3 

There are many sights, sounds, scents, tastes, and sensations particular to this time of year. While writing my book Life in Five Senses, I discovered my most neglected sense is…taste. Curious to learn your most neglected sense? Take my quick, fun quiz here.

 4 

I love children’s literature, and a thoughtful listener told me about a podcast I’ve been enjoying tremendously: Eight Days of Diana Wynn Jones. I discovered Diana Wynne Jones’s novels as an adult, and listening to this podcast has made me want to re-read several books that I’ve already loved (Fire and Hemlock, in particular—bonkers) and read a few more that I’ve missed.

 5 

If you’re already looking ahead to the new year and thinking about what habits you’d like to build, you might like to join my Super-Fan Group. Super-Fans are among the first hear about my latest tools, ideas, and projects.