The Downward Slope into the Holidays

You guys.  I just finished drinking a cup of hot cocoa.

It. 

    Was. 

             Amazing.

I was talking with Mad this morning and all the sudden I realized that it's November.  NOVEMBER!  Doesn't that make it officially winter?!  (Okay, with all these leaves on the trees, it's a little more like flinter or wintumn or something, but still... WINTER is involved.)

That being said, as I was talking with my mom tonight on the phone, little flurries started falling from the sky and I just felt the perfection of this world, of our God's creation.  I just had to smile.  (My mom on the other hand - who lives in Upstate New York - said, "Uh huh.  You like it now, but you just wait until all you have seen in four months is white, white, white."  To which I wanted to reply, but didn't, "Oh, mom, all I see in Utah every day is white, white, super white.")

With all this wintumn glory around me, I have started to scheme in my head:

Mason jars with candles hung all over the tree out front.  

Fires in the fireplace as often as humanly possible (which will mean that I have to figure out how to start a fire without going through 2 whole boxes of matches and 6 newspapers).

Advent calendar, anyone?

Holiday decorations.

Baking.

Anyone else totally overjoyed with the change of season?  (If not, please don't burst my joyful little bubble!)  Want to scheme with me, my darlings?