Five things that made me smile/laugh/happy this week:

1. Yesterday when I checked the mail, it was all holiday cards.

2. First snowboarding day trip of the season last weekend. We did our favorite weekend routine: Pack the car the night before, roll out of bed at 5:30am, get on the road by 6. Get to the ski resort around 7:30, have coffee and breakfast, be at the lifts first thing when they open. Snowboard until we’re pooped, head home early afternoon, and beat the traffic. It was an excellent day of snowboarding–3 inches of snow the night before, and a light snowfall while we were out. It stayed around 30 degrees so it wasn’t too cold. And I hardly fell at all.

3. I spent most of Sunday baking holiday cookies while snow fell outside and holiday tunes played in the background.

4. We went out to dinner with friends and their toddler-age daughter kept pointing urgently down the aisle whenever Santa was mentioned, like she thought he was in Chili’s with us. We finally realized that she was pointing at an elderly woman who sat with her back to us and had white hair and wore a red sweatshirt with a white collar sticking out. She also made me laugh with this crazy little dance she’d break into at random moments. (Our friends’ daughter, not the elderly Santa-look-alike woman.) And another funny: Our friend the father asked her, “Who’s the man, Sammie?” clearly expecting her to reply “Daddy!” but instead she gleefully tapped Big Bird on her placemat. And also, the look of both amazement and agreement on her face when she and I were looking out the restaurant window at the cars in the parking lot, and I told her that the blue car was probably Cookie Monster’s because they are both blue. Kid time is always a highlight of my week.

5. Christmas is next week and I’m traveling home. Knowing that I will be getting a good dose of family-time and also quality time with my California cats is definitely smile-worthy.