16 Dec 2025 Let it glow

The word I’d use to describe this time of year is glowy.

Not just because of the twinkle lights (though there are a lot of twinkle lights), but because even in the middle of a very full, very busy December, all that light has a way of nudging us to pay attention to what really matters.

Hanukkah brings its quiet, steady miracle — one night of oil turning into eight. Christmas arrives with its own kind of lights — colorful, bright, everywhere — but in the end, they’re a signal to slow down, gather close, and make room for something meaningful.

Different traditions, different stories — but both point to the same idea: light matters most when the world feels somewhat dark, busy, or overwhelming.

That showed up for us in a very real way this past Saturday at our holiday party.

Seventy-three members of our Maid Brigade family — including relatives and friends — all together at Casa Mary in North White Plains.

We ate, we danced, we took selfies … and then we danced some more.

No speeches. No agenda. Just people showing up, celebrating, and connecting the people they love to the work they do and the teammates they do it with.

And when the last of us finally left (okay, okay — it was more like being told to leave: the restaurant literally turned up the lights and turned off the music), it was snowing. A small group of us stood in a snow-sprinkled parking lot, coats on, cheeks cold, still smiling — and we took this photo.

The whole night was one you don’t want to end, but the way it did — with an unplanned, small, ordinary-but-somehow-magical moment — is exactly what all that light is about.

Cheerfully,