November

I remember walking to high school one day in November and just thinking that it was the perfect month of the whole year.  It was overcast and cold and just made me so ridiculously happy.  November is such a perfect month!

I love the leftover colors, the cold nights and off and on cold days.  Sometimes a little snow gets thrown in to add excitement and sometimes it's drizzly rain that makes me want hot cocoa.  There is still enough color in the trees to keep it from being non stop gray and life is just beautiful all over.

From my window at work, I can see a street that is lined on one side with rather normal, mid size trees.  But, around this time of year they get around to changing and they're amazing!  It's always exciting to see the first leaves on those trees start to change, hinting at what's to come.  Taking a detour along that road becomes a daily thing for a week or so.

The other thing that makes November so wonderful is the anticipation of the holidays.  Thanksgiving is great and fun with not a whole lot of stress (because I love cooking) and Christmas is far enough away that I can be excited about it without having to stress out about it.  I have learned that at least for me, anticipation is usually more exciting than the actual event so it's a perfect time to anticipate all the wonderfulness of the holidays.

Which of course makes October quite wonderful too since I can anticipate the amazing November and then September is great because I can anticipate anticipating November.  That's as far as it goes though because August is just hot, humid and something to be endured.

So, back to November, looking at this amazing yellow tree, taking detours to work and wrapping up in a blanket with hot cocoa.  Life is good.