Fall: a time for family, football, and festivities that is welcomed each year with the (theoretical) death of the heat and the rise of pumpkin spice. The swing of fall into winter is cued by two noticeable, and very conflicting events, November 1st – when everyone seems to forgo any Thanksgiving celebration and moves from 'spoopy' fall shenanigans to a winter wonderland accompanied with Christmas Carols at full blast – and the dreaded ending of Daylight Savings Time.
CanAs a November baby, the month has a warm place in my heart, that seems greatly under appreciated by the majority of the country. November is the perfect pocket of the transition of fall to winter. It is when the south finally gets to experience fall weather that the rest of the country has been reveling in throughout the earlier parts of fall. Football season is coming to a bittersweet end as our beloved high school teams begin the anxiety inducing journey through the playoffs with the prospect of the state championship drawing ever near. The changing of the leaves is in full force, and the south is wrapped in a cozy blanket of rich orange, red, yellow. Children are a combination of completely insane and petrified in a perpetual sugar coma following their Halloween winnings. The streets are littered with election signs that albeit, tend to offer an instinctual recoil of fear of what may come rather than a wave of warming pride–especially to us southern liberals.
The month rests in this perpetual limbo of the creativity and spontaneity of Halloween fading into the familial warmth of Christmas. Yet, everyone seems so eager to forgo the lingering majesty of fall in order to get to winter. It seems as though November's opportunity has not been fully realized. Yes, I love the holiday season as much as everyone else, but there is already so much time for said festivities, that it seems like such a shame to suck the life out of potentially the best month of the year in order to stuff it with commercialized bullshit. Black Friday shopping, pre-Thanksgiving Christmas decorations, and the "countdown TO the 25 days of Christmas" is not reflective of the true joys that one experiences throughout the holiday season. They may be great in the moment, but those memories will be fleeting and forgotten.
November is a time to forgo the commercialized nature of the holidays and be nestled in the crisp, possibility of adventure. Whether adventure is cozied up inside with books that let you escape the flustering panic of day to day life or tromping through the woods in search of the spectacular wonders that nature has to offer, November presents so much opportunity that cannot be stuffed into boxes and topped with glittery bows. There is a time for that somewhat gaudy Christmas wonder, but not in the sacred pocket of time before Thanksgiving. This year, give a new meaning to November, because child-like wonder can be found in more places than you'd think.
