1. It’s my sister-in-law’s birthday tomorrow! She is a real Renaissance woman and wonderful mom, and she just made a big career change, so is brave to boot. She even has a blog! Happy birthday, Altair.

2. I can’t stop with the weird Christmas music, so I made a playlist on YouTube. Current highlights: The Weather Girls singing “Dear Santa, Bring Me a Man for Christmas” (!) and Grace Jones singing “Little Drummber Boy” on PeeWee’s Playhouse (!!)

3. My brother reminded me of The Atlantic’s Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar, which always just blows my mind that a) it all exists and b) humans figured it out.  Tonight is the darkest of the year, too (the new moon closest to the winter solstice) so remember to look up.