Only 12 days until Christmas? I thought I was on top of things until I looked at the calendar. But if you need a little holiday light in the middle of the madness, here are two things only a click away: Norad Santa offers all sorts of fun for all ages (the light-the-Christmas-tree puzzle is surprisingly challenging) and if you missed the limited edition from Subterranean Press like I did, the ever-fabulous Connie Willis’ All Seated on the Ground is now an ebook. Aliens vs Christmas carols! Will our protagonists bridge an interstellar communication gap in time to save Christmas and the world? I laughed until I hurt and then I read it all over again from the beginning.

Yesterday my kid asked me to slice up a pear for her. Then she added, “Make it beautiful.” Ooookay, I thought, and then arranged the slices in a lotus blossom. She loved it, and I would never have thought of it without that request. In any endeavor, there’s always room for beauty. Add some to whatever you’re doing today. I’m going to work on beautiful prose.