These things are making me happy

Know it, love it.

1. The Charlie Brown Christmas album. It’s held up so well, wouldn’t you agree? Isn’t this the best kind of schmaltz: that whose fond associations with all of our childhoods allow us to overlook. Wes Anderson knows that “Christmastime is Here,” and so should you.
2. On that note, eggnog. Every year since I discovered its allure (eggnog was never a Ray family staple), I am surprised and elated by eggnog’s annual appearance in the dairy section. There’s plenty to look forward to around the end of December; eggnog remains a perennial surprise.
3. Band of Horses’ Everything All The Time. I hope it’s not a surprise to anyone that I’m really a very poor excuse for a music hipster — at best, I’ll pick up a few new releases between January and November every year as I see them hyped. Mid-December’s glut of best-of lists, though, is my chance to catch up on what I’ve missed. Anyway, these guys are charming. Sure, they sound a lot like My Morning Jacket’s slower stuff, but they do their own thing with the soaring guitars and ‘verb-splashed vocals.
4. Gloves! Jessica’s parents just got me some for Christmas, and they are wonderful.
5. Law schools! I’ve heard back from a few, and I think I’ll get some good news in the first few months of 2007.
6. Free time! Kind of! As everyone finished exams this week, I frequently complained that my hell was just beginning, as I intended to use my break to catch up work on my thesis. Well, I still do, but it’s not going as quickly as I had hoped. On the plus side, the free time to think has put me in a better mood about it than I have been recently. High hopes, and all that.