Oh, I know — those aren’t the only choices. But they’re the ones I’ve adopted. That said, here’s my short list of things to be thankful for this holiday season, in no particular order.

Family and friends. There are so many wonderful people in my life who I feel blessed to know. There’s nothing as precious as time spent with someone you love. In person is best. Phone or virtual is good, too. I have so many friends hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Writing time. Four glorious days off for Thanksgiving weekend. 6,500 glorious words. Over the 300 page mark on the book and into the last 100 page light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel sprint. The coolest thing by far is figuring everything out at the same time my characters do.

Dance. Four glorious days off also means three mornings spent at the Nia studio — one with a mix of music honoring one of the founders of Nia, Carlos Rosas, and two instances of Sting’s Brand New Day, which choreography and music makes my whole self sing. Through thick and thin, during times when I felt comfortable and sometimes worried in my own skin, Nia has nourished me, body and soul.

Food, Glorious Food! ‘Tis the season to be baking, fa la la la, la la la la. Fig cookies, banana bread with chocolate chips and crystallized ginger, and sometime this coming week: gingerbread. I love the feel of dough in my hands, the warm, spicy, sweet smells wafting from the oven to fill the whole house, the dance of flavors on the tongue. Many thanks to Gluten Free Girl for a website of glorious gluten free recipes, ripe for the making.

Story. For great books and movies and stories spoken from the mouths of friends. This weekend, I’ve been New Moon-ed, which I liked just fine, and the company was awesome, too. Really love spending time in the Bella-and-Edward ‘verse. I’ve also been reminded of my great love of all things Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Monk, NCIS, and of course Sons of Anarchy. On deck: the honkin’ huge novel on my coffee table, just itching to be opened and read. Could this book be by Stephen King? Why, yes, Virginia. It is.

Song. I had the good luck (and the determination) to see U2 this year after many years of having missed them when they came to town. Definitely worth the wait. A giant shot in the arm full of love and hope and general shiny goodness. Tomorrow night, I have the privilege of going with a very good friend on a birthday adventure to include Jackson Browne. Doctor, my eyes will be full of Jackson Browne-ness and my ears will be full of lovely tunes.

Sunset Walks. Sunset walks on the block with the Doggie Ranger. Evening breeze rustling the leaves of the oaks, ashes, sycamores, holly, palms, golden raintrees, sweetgums, and magnolias. Crows gliding through the air, calling out to the world. And the way everything must smell really interesting, what with all the times we simply MUST STOP to smell the (fill in the blank).

Love. Needs no description.

Also:
Tea
Hot Chocolate
Christmas fairy lights
Flickering candlelight
Cider
A fuzzy scarf
and
Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody

Mama!

I offer you this bit of warmth on a cold, rainy day.

Sliante!

Muse opened the show around 7:30 and played for 45 minutes. I hadn’t heard their stuff before and I felt pleasantly surprised by how much I liked them. Also, would you please lower the decibels? If the sound is so loud that it’s muddy, it’s not doing you any favors. kthanks, now I can go buy your tunes.

Shortly after 9:00, strains of Bowie’s “Space Oddity” filled the stadium and U2 took the stage for a 2 hour and 20 minute wild ride. The sound? Excellent, even in Section 508 (one section shy of nosebleed). The sight? Amazing. Their 360 “claw” stage allowed everyone have great seats, even the folks in back of the stage, and they played to everyone, roaming moving bridges and a second circular strip of stage placed out in the middle of the crowd.

I could talk about the set list — and I’ll post it below for the interested — but I want to try to talk about something I’ve had a hard time explaining to people who’ve never seen U2 live. There is a difference between experiencing a song on CD and experiencing one live with lots of bands. With U2, that difference is vast.

I wrote somewhere else about the vibe of a U2 show that makes me want to dance dance dance and that it has nothing to do with Bono’s charisma, or that Bono’s charisma doesn’t affect that dancing vibe. That’s actually not true. The guy has enormous charisma, and it’s very effective. He also runs his energy like a priest.

When I look at him at a live show, I see that his column of roots/energy is both extremely concentrated and three times Bono-size. He’s blasting it through at light-speed. With his voice, yes, and also with the rest of him. That sort of thing is probably true of all sorts of other front men or other musicians. What captivates me about what Bono does in particular is that he channels this energy with and through spirit, love, and hope, and the way energy that connects with those qualities in the audience. Edge, Adam, and Larry are all doing this, too, in a way that weaves seamlessly with Bono’s effort. Great amounts of energy, moved in the spirit of expansion and an honoring of our common humanity. Last night was that, complete with the raising of a stadium-sized blast to lift up Aung San Suu Kyi.

(By which mention, if you assumed that there were politics discussed at the show, there were. It’s U2.)

I’ve been to plenty of live shows and have never felt anything quite like what they do. I love their songs, sure. *And* this feeling of their live shows is what made me really fall in love. It’s a religious experience. It’s church, when church is both immanent and transcendent.

I spent nearly the entire concert dancing with the vibe and the music. I laughed. I cried. (Yeah, I’m like that.)

If that’s your sort of thing, give some thought to catching them live.

Set List:

Breathe
Get on Your Boots
Magnificent
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day/Here Comes the Sun
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For/Stand By Me
Stuck In A Moment
No Line on the Horizon
Elevation
Your Blue Room
Until The End of the World
The Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (as a house mix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Amazing Grace/Where The Streets Have No Name
Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

Special thanks goes out to the friends with whom I attended the show. Y’all rock.

Special where-are-the-toothpicks-to-hold-open-my-eyelids thanks goes to our seemingly brilliant transportation plan. We took the train to the show. Couldn’t have been better. On the other hand, a thousand other people had that same idea and the lines for the train after the concert were just plain unbearable. We ended up walking a mile to the next train stop and waiting for half an hour for a train with room for more people.

Out of the arena: 11:45 PM. Home: 2 AM. Bed: 2:45 AM. Up: Once at 4:30 and again for good at 6:30 AM.

I’m exhausted and it was worth every cup of tea I’m having to drink today.