What Has Brought You Joy in 2023

Happy Friday.

Today, as we enter December and look back on all that was 2023, I’m sharing some of the delightful messages readers have sent us about the best part of their year. Reading these notes is one of my favorite things about this job, and I hope you enjoy them, too.

Please keep sending me word of your 2023 wins at [email protected], and please include your full name and the city where you live.

Here are some of our readers’ notes, lightly edited:

“I have a cabin in the mountains of Trinity County. When it’s foggy and cool on the Humboldt coast, my biggest joy is to drive an hour to my cabin and bask in the 90-degree heat by the pool overlooking the Trinity River. This is the first year in so many that I didn’t have to worry about fire consuming it from one side or the other. What a wonderful summer.” — Pam Cahill, Bayside

“I received a cochlear implant in my left ear this year. I still have a long road of hearing rehabilitation ahead of me until I can understand people fully, but I’ve been delighting in my ability to hear sounds I never had access to before. I have discovered that my label maker makes a cute little whirring sound when it prints. I now notice the leaky faucet in our bathroom when I’m working from home. I can hear my daughter’s wails in the evening and I don’t need a baby monitor. Most of all, I’m excited that I won’t miss my daughter’s first words when she starts talking soon!” — Audrey Sze, Foster City

“My husband and I both celebrated our 88th birthdays this year and, more important, our 70th wedding anniversary. Most wonderful of all is that we have friends — most of whom are the ages of our two sons who do not live nearby — and they all treat us like treasured pals.” — Jan O’Brien, Folsom

“This summer we moved my youngest child into their dorm at C.S.U. Monterey Bay. It is a beautiful school, surroundings and spirit. They are the first person in our family to attend university, and they had their older brother, Dad, myself (Mom) and an old family friend (college graduate) to help move them in and be there for them for the weekend. It was so joyful and wonderful. Watching them work toward this, plan for it and now be there has been a great joy this year. They are living out their best college life, trying new things — rugby! — making new friends, and discovering new interests and skills in their classes.” — Elena P. Craig, Fairfax

“First, the rain. It was a gift not just to me, of course, but I reveled in every drop, even as my home leaked like a sieve. And I will take equal pleasure in the upcoming winter, especially if it also contains a lot of rain.

“Second, getting a passport again. What a complete adventure. And it arrived just in time to let me experience the joy of travel for the first time in a few decades. Italy, a wedding and staggeringly good food.

“Last and fairly recently — don’t laugh — a faint beginning of the re-emergence of the phoenix that is San Francisco. Neighborhoods are lively, small businesses are opening along with theaters and comedy shows, streets are crowded at night, outside tables at eating establishments are filled, there is laughter in bars. It’s not that our hardships are over, but there is a little sparkly something in the air.” — Eleanor Najjar, San Francisco

Where we’re traveling

Today’s tip comes from Jorge Moreno, spokesman for California state parks. Moreno recommends the Locke Boarding House Museum near Sacramento:

“The Locke Boarding House was constructed in 1909, before the formal development of the town of Locke. Chinese men working on the construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad stayed there. Today, the boarding house is operated as a museum that provides visitors a glimpse into the past, and is part of the Locke Historic District, a Chinese American community established in 1915. It is the largest and most intact surviving example of a historic Chinese American rural community in the United States and the only remaining example in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.”

Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to [email protected]. We’ll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

Tell us

How do you celebrate the holidays in California? With a chilly walk by the beach, a batch of tamales or stargazing in the desert?

Email me at [email protected] with your Golden State holiday traditions. Please include your name and the city in which you live.

And before you go, some good news

December is here, and the season of holiday lights is upon us. Multicolored bulbs are being strung outside homes across California and dazzling displays are dotting front yards.

In honor of the season, and the ample wattage, The Mercury News has published a list of the Top 21 best light displays in the Bay Area.

The lineup includes neighborhoods like “Crippsmas Place” in north Fremont, where front yards are illuminated with cutouts of classic cartoon characters, and city institutions like the Oakland Zoo, which hosts a “Glowfari” in which giant lanterns shaped like zoo animals are displayed throughout the grounds.

Other notable activities include “Christmas in the Park” festivities in San Jose and a visit to a Newark home with a 33-foot inflatable Santa.

Many of the displays are free to visit. Find the complete list of glimmering shows here.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back on Monday. Enjoy your weekend. — Soumya

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword.