On Halloween night, on my way home from work, I stopped at the pharmacy on the corner for a last taste of candy corn. I couldn’t find any small bags (and my husband doesn’t like it), so instead I bought two slightly squashed (but still delicious) Reese’s peanut butter pumpkins. And then I looked up, above the gaudy orange bags of Snickers and M&Ms, and I saw boxes of candy canes.
The next day, I walked by the Starbucks shop in my building and saw those ubiquitous red cups. Already.
November is tough for me: the days turn suddenly short and dark, when the clocks flip back an hour and the clouds start to gather. I struggled with this seasonal shift in Oxford, but I find it more difficult here in Boston. Having survived two Northeastern winters (one unusually rough, one unusually mild), I am not sure what to expect this year. But I’m bracing for it anyway, and rather dreading the chill, grey, snowy days to come.
It would be easy to skip ahead to the relief of holiday cheer, to start playing the Christmas music I love, to ease the darkness of these days by living several steps ahead. Just a couple of weeks until Thanksgiving; just six and a half weeks until Christmas. Part of me would relish the chance to gloss over the days in between.
But this year, as last year, I am choosing to be present in November, to savor the trees still aflame with orange leaves and the crunch of their dried counterparts underfoot. I will keep taking walks at lunchtime, even when it’s wet or chilly. And I will practice gratitude.
Of course, I’ll be planning for Thanksgiving, which we’ll celebrate for the third time with friends in the basement of our beloved church. I’ll make pumpkin bread and sip chai, and yes, I’ve started my Christmas shopping. I’ll celebrate Candletime, which seems like a holiday (albeit a made-up one) custom-made for me. And I will take my Vitamin D pills and keep using my new light box, because I am already feeling the effects of the shorter days.
As the holiday rush revs up, I know I’ll be affected by it: the ads and songs and those red cups (which I do love) will become impossible to ignore. But I will keep trying to live in the present, no matter how mundane or hectic it seems. I will do my best to savor November.
Will you join me?
cakes, tea and dreams 
Sounds like another is on its way; hope it misses you. I can relate to your candy corn story; I too am alone in loving those little sugar kernels. I bought a whole bag, ate some in the car on the way home, and then gave the rest to our Super when I saw him in the parking lot – saved.
Yes, I will join you in gratitude. Just yesterday as I was leaving work I looked up into an almost leafless tree and looked for the birds I could hear singing their November song and said to myself, “Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds.” (Ray Bradbury)
I’m with you. It feels like fall here, but looks like winter. Grey and wet. Our recent storms blew most of the pretty fall color to the ground. But, the temperature is moderate. I found myself humming along with a Christmas carol in a store yesterday…No! Can’t be time for that! I, too, take my walks…albeit, mine are out the back of my neighborhood into a mountain cove with a small, sweet farm tucked far back in the crook of the mountain. There is autumn. Wood smoke, birds calling, squirrels and chipmunks gathering. Quiet except for the babbling creek and wind sliding down the mountainsides. Peace. I’ll enjoy this till after our Thankgsgiving trip to the beach. Then…I’ll embrace those carols and settle in for the winter and all the joys it holds. Knitting, reading, games by the fire!
I’m in! I don’t want to rush through this fall season at all this year. Instead, I’m going to try to be present every day and enjoy my time at home with Emily (I’m going back to work after the holidays, so I really don’t want to wish time away). And November is a wonderful month anyway – cozy and warm but still autumn, before winter fatigue sets in. Thanks for reminding us to enjoy it!
I will definitely join you. With so much having already happened this fall (I live in NY where Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc), my mind has been very present and while the holidays are lovely, I very much don’t want to get caught up in the hullabaloo that typically accompanies them. I plan to savor each day of this season!
November is one of my favorite months (February is the one I dread). The shorter days, the slant of light, the fading trees… to me it all makes for a kind of Lenten atmosphere leading up to Thanksgiving and Advent. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that hot cider, a cozy throw, and a good book are necessary therapies.