2012: January

We all began to process our extraordinary family trip, nothing short of a pilgrimage, to Jerusalem.

I chose light as my word for 2012 (not uncorrelated to the previous point).

My favorite blog post of this month: In the Labyrinth.

I noticed the way bare trees allow you to see bird nests in their branches, for the first time, and then I could not stop seeing them.

Grace and I visited my dear friend and her godmother, Q, in Chicago, for a trip full of ferris wheel rides, sea otters, white wine, and laughter.  As is the case with my very best friends, even though everything is different than when we met, everything that matters is exactly the same.

Whit turned seven.

I read An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor, Once by Meghan O’Rourke, Evensong by Gail Godwin.

We spent a wonderful weekend with close friends in New Hampshire skiing.  Our children are all the same ages, and there is always sledding, chili, red noses, and outright joy during this annual tradition.

What a hideout: Holiness lies spread and borne over the surface of time and stuff like color. – Annie Dillard, For the Time Being