We are now entering the heart of the Quiet Zone, which begins around Thanksgiving and reaches its climax near Christmas, continuing through the beginning of January. You may think of it as the Busy Zone or the Loud Zone because you have a ton of things to do to get through the holiday season. But this period can become strangely empty if you don’t celebrate Christmas.

If I’m waiting on anything big during this time, I know that (1) if I receive the item/answer at all, it will be much later than I thought it would come, and (2) it will likely be pushed back until January. No one wants to start things in mid-December. If we hadn’t conceived the twins on the cycle when we conceived the twins, I could have seen the clinic encouraging us to take a cycle off to not conflict with the holidays.

I could, of course, lean into this, knowing that I can’t fight it. It happens every year. And for someone who really loves silence, it is weird that I get so antsy with quiet periods. But I do.

So I’m filling the time with projects. Hoping I can hit the ground running when everything ramps up again in January.

A few weeks ago, we went to a screening of Love Actually with a live orchestra. It didn’t work as well as it sounds. Despite pre-paying for parking, we couldn’t find a spot, so we missed the opening.

And then, when we sat down, we were between a woman who laughed (at things that weren’t funny) and then declared to the person she was with that, “I’m laughing! That was funny, too.” Over and over again. And a man who was licking the inside of his popcorn container and unwrapping dozens of cellophane-covered candies. And in front of a man who asked questions about ONLY things that were sexual in nature. (“Are those two people having sex? Is it not real sex? Is it pornography? What did you say? They’re standing in for other actors in a pornography film? Are those two people thinking about having sex? Where would they even have sex?”) It was a lot. We walked out at intermission and went home.

When I told the ChickieNob about the experience, she mused, “I’ve never seen that film.” NEVER SEEN THAT FILM? We must remedy this. So I think we’re watching Love Actually tonight.

I will make sure to be as annoying as possible so she can experience a taste of the chef’s kiss we got to experience in the theater.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Infertile Phoenix points out the ways her family infantilizes women without children. It’s a heartbreaking post, but I love this sentiment: “I am enough and I don’t need to explain my existence or reasoning.” But that final paragraph is a gut-punch. Sending a hug.

Lastly, Middle Girl has a post about a strange dream that defies interpretation but is weirdly intriguing. And I loved this line: “I know not what any of these means. I do know that now I want kittens that I absolutely cannot have.”

The roundup to the Roundup: Love Actually tonight. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between December 13 – 20) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.

This is an old essay, but I saw people linking to it a lot after the election, and it feels kind of timeless in a broken world. I think the world is possibly always broken — at least for someone — and it behooves us to remember that. It’s still a broken world if it’s broken for one person, and our job is to remember that brokenness, even if it’s not broken for us.

I think the thing that stood out to me was that most of us would agree that we’d rather live in a community vs. on our own. We have the choice to remove ourselves from the world and cut ourselves off from the internet and consuming other people’s content or eating food made from ingredients provided through the world of other people and… well, you get it.

You’re reading this, which means you are connecting to the world. You are not shutting yourself off from the world; you’re letting it in every time you read or listen or see or eat or touch something created by another person. That is why we live in communities; to benefit from one another and not have to support our existence without other individuals.

The essay writer states: “I don’t know how to convince someone how to experience the basic human emotion of empathy.” We are all one choice, one action, one moment away from living a very different existence — one that someone else is living right now. And it would help if we remembered that as we move through this world. The point of community is so we can be there for each other vs. trying to do everything on our own.

As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from November.

The Wood at Midwinter (Susanna Clarke): Super super super tiny story. It was charming. That’s the word that popped in my mind after I finished. I think anyone who has gone through infertility will identify with Merowdis. Anyone who has raised a difficult child will find something in here, too. It’s tiny but will stay with you a long time. I love Clarke’s writing.

We Solve Murders (Richard Osman): Richard Osman, even without the Thursday crew, is still delightful. And a trip around the world? Thank you very much much. I wasn’t thrilled that I figured the ending out pretty early on — that usually never happens for me with an Osman book — but still a super enjoyable read. He writes characters with heart, and I will always buy his books the first day they are out, plot line unknown.

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret (Benjamin Stevenson): Like the other books in this series (this is the third one), super enjoyable and well paced. This one felt a little far-fetched but I was willing to forgive some “I don’t know about that” moments for the enjoyment of the story.

You Are Here (David Nicholls): This is one of the best books I’ve ever read, up there with One Day and Us… wait a second, they are all the same amazing writer. David Nicholls doesn’t really give the happy ending you want, but he somehow always gives you the happy ending you need. Thank you for a gorgeous gorgeous book.

You’d Look Better as a Ghost (Joanna Wallace): This was wonderfully bonkers and super creepy. It reminded me a lot of Samantha Downing’s writing. I tore through the last third because I was desperate to know what would happen. Great writing and pacing.

What did you read last month?

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I didn’t expect that I would start sobbing as I read this story, and you need to read all the way to the end to get the full impact, but I’ll leave this here if you need a good, hopeful cry this morning (gift link).*

* I call it a good, hopeful cry because some cries just make you sad, and some cries make you feel hopeful that there are good stories in the world.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts connected to businesses or sponsored posts.