fall festival

Is it really November already?!

I'm totally not complaining.  

November is my favorite... and I'm sure you know why.

Christmas.

Once November first hits, or once the Christmas Starbucks cups come out, I can officially start embracing Christmas.

I've really come to realize that it's almost more about the days leading up to Christmas that I love so much than Christmas day itself.  No, people, I'm not forgetting that the birth of baby Jesus is why we celebrate Christmas.  That's actually why I love Christmas so much- because it is all so completely centered around Christ.  And all the other non-Jesus related traditions just make it that much better.  But once November hits, that means I have almost 2 whole months of so much joy, a kind of joy that only comes during this time of year. 

The feelings I get from seeing Christmas decorations, the smell in the air of Winter coming, the memories and feelings I get when listening to Christmas tunes... I actually can't describe, so I'm not going to try.

I'll just say, I'm really happy it's November.

Please enjoy it with me. 

But since it isn't Winter yet, and because some of you aren't ready to dive in head first to Christmas, let me tell you about my Fall Festival I had on Sunday night.

It was a Fall and Halloween Festival mixed into one.

How perfect, right?

This was taken on the way to church.
The houses we pass on the way to church look like old Victorian homes.
They're gorgeous!

In the parking lot at church.
Hilarious, huh?

Sam's, mine and Steph's pumpkins.

don't they look fantastic?!

After evening church at Frontline Tysons, we came home and watched 2 Tim Burton movies (how much more Halloween can you get?), ate homemade chili, sipped on hot apple cider, carved pumpkins and baked pumpkin seeds.

I don't know which ones are which in the picture, but we baked three different kinds of flavors for pumpkin seeds:  Worchestire sauce and garlic salt (SO GOOD), cinnamon sugar and butter, and Lawry's seasoning salt and olive oil.  I wish I could describe how they tasted.

I'm tellin' ya-  they.were.so.good.

The night was perfect and just what I needed.  

I was concerned that by my standards, I was allowed to listen to Christmas music the next day, the next day being November 1st, but I had hardly had a chance to really embrace the Fall.  I didn't get to go to a pumpkin patch and I barely saw any Fall decorations.  I hadn't had any hot cider yet, and the weather has still been too inconsistent for it to really feel like Fall (although, we did have snow on Saturday...).  So my night at the Cave house fixed that internal issue of mine.  And it gave me a night of fellowship at church and an evening at home with a family.  

Family is so great. 

God knew just what I needed.

But yes, it is November.  And yes, the Starbucks Christmas cups are everywhere.

ahhh, it's my own heaven on earth.

That 'Eg' on the cup?  That stands for Egg Nog Latte, aka- the taste of Christmas itself.

As of 4 days ago, I'm embracing Christmas at its full.

(But don't think I'm by-passing Thanksgiving, at all.  

I'm sure we'll discuss that holiday in another post, don't you worry!)

Happy Friday, friends!

"Let's merry."