The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

No, I’m not quite ready to start singing Christmas carols (wait for it – I’ll be there soon!) But it’s fall…and that is, hands down, my favorite time of year. I’m not sure why I love fall so much – perhaps it’s because I dislike summer so greatly (at least around here where it gets crazy hot and so sticky you feel like you’ve rolled in glue). Perhaps it’s because I spent the first 11 years of my life in the mountains of Northern New Mexico where Aspen trees abound. There is nothing more glorious than a mountainside of Aspens in the fall. The gleaming white of their trunks against the vibrant oranges and golds of the leaves? You can’t beat it.

Whatever it is, once you add in the cooler temperatures, the briefest glimpses of frost on the tips of the grass in the morning, the knowledge that you’ll be snuggling under a thick quilt at bedtime, and the breezes that you can hear as they rustle through the dry leaves, I’m in heaven.

Fall does seem to bring with it a spate of activity. My older son is desperately looking forward to Halloween. He loves both candy and dressing up (so getting to dress up and be given candy is pretty much the best thing in the universe.) This year, he’s finally settled on being a knight (to go with his younger brother who will be a dragon and our friends’ daughter, who is going as a princess.) It should make a pretty fun picture, the 3 of them roaming around. After that, I’m already looking forward to Thanksgiving. We’re blessed to have both sides of the extended family living nearby (plus my sister and her husband), so it’s a merry group of twelve at big family meals and while there is certainly chaos, it’s also just fun. (Plus I love to cook, so having a chance to do big meals is a joy for me.)

The day after Thanksgiving is always our day to decorate the house for Christmas. And that settles us into Advent – a season I love even more than Christmas day because it highlights not only the most wonderful time of the year but the most wonderful occurrence of history: the arrival of God’s Son and the fulfillment of His final plan for our redemption.