Somehow the time seems to be flying by this year, and suddenly it's November! This makes me happy. Well, the time flying by doesn't, but I do love November. I really love it once the time changes, since it feels so much more like fall once it gets dark so much earlier. It's cooling off finally, and the leaves are changing. . . or in some cases, they've already changed and have fallen to the ground.
I love the foods associated with this time of year, especially almost anything that uses pumpkin. I love seeing the Christmas decorations and foods showing up in stores. I love that more and more ads show Christmas scenes. I love Thanksgiving, when we usually go to my parents house and spend time with my family and eat way too much. (And watch the Egg Bowl, of course. Go Dawgs!) I love Christmas shopping, even though I worry I won't be finished with that by Thanksgiving. But each year I promise that this will be the year I don't have to fight those crowds between Christmas and Thanksgiving. I haven't managed that so far, but this year. . .
I always threaten to start decorating for Christmas on the day after Halloween, but Caradorn is adament that we wait until after Thanksgiving. We compromise by getting everything ready before Thanksgiving so we can decorate the tree as soon as we get home from my parents' house. I'm not sure that's much of a compromise, though, and I think I need to figure out a way to start getting some of the decorations up before that.
We have lots of things to look forward to over the next two or three months, but this time of year I really enjoy the normal days almost as much as the days when we do something special. Settling in with a mug of hot cider or hot chocolate and playing games or watching a movie, building a fire in the fireplace, baking pumpkin bread, taking a walk and hearing the leaves crunching underfoot. . . there are so many things I love about this time of year! I just want to enjoy every minute of it and forget about working. But of course I can't do that. We do have lots to do, and the one time of year I love even more than this is December. When Thanksgiving is over, I want to be able to sit back and know we've finished everything important for the year. That means we'll really have our work cut out for us this month. But that's okay, because I feel more motivated than I have in a long time. It's fall!
