What is one thing you are looking forward to this month?

Without anyone else’s expectations put upon you, what is that one thing you are most looking forward to?

I suspect many will say time with family (at least in the US), with Thanksgiving on the calendar. Perhaps for some, it is Black Friday and/or shopping for deals/gifts.

Well, my extended family lives across the country from us. I spend every day with the two people I love most (the other people who know who they are notwithstanding). I am good there.

I hate all the madness that comes from the December holidays. I always have. My favorite Christmas is still when I was about eight years old and my mom bought me this doll (Beth was the doll’s name). Then she sewed me a wardrobe for Beth–without me knowing what she was doing. Those were my favorite gifts ever. Don’t get me wrong; I love to give gifts. I of course enjoy getting gifts. But the atmosphere in stores once Halloween is over (again, at least in the US) is so hateful, so frenetic, so overwhelmingly full of the gotta-get-its and the gimme-gimme-gimmes…it’s too much for me…and it always has been.

I am grateful for online shopping and for all the companies that ship packages and mail and whatnot. But I am grateful for these companies every single day of the year.

What I cannot fathom is why, one day after Halloween, my inbox is suddenly full of Christmas and holidays sale offers from companies that I don’t hear from for the rest of the year, or barely hear from for the rest of the year. Also, companies (as well as people) that I do hear from on a regular basis have also begun to bombard my inbox with offers.

Thank you, but, uhm, no thank you.

And I will leave it at that as that has nothing to do with the current topic at hand.

What am I looking forward to this month?

I could say baking. As the weather gets colder, all those things I whimpered and whined about wanting to bake (like cookies!) all summer long but absolutely refused to turn the oven on when the temperatures were so high the air conditioning was having issues keeping the house in the mid-seventies, I can now bake and do whatever I want to do because the house is cool enough to endure the heat of the oven.

It’s not baking, no matter how much I love that.

I think what I am most looking forward to this month is our family walks.

We walk in the woods in nearby parks. Through the trees whose leaves have all turned various shades of red or yellow or what have you and have now turned over to dull and brown. The leaves are dropping off branches and onto the ground below. The smell of the leaves turning and crisping alone is worth looking forward to for me.

The weather is also part of my enjoyment. I am all about those cooler temperatures and a bit of rain. Even if the snow begins to fall before December, it will do my heart good. I miss the deep snow of the mountains and the silence that comes from that snow. I miss the wisdom of the mountains more and more as I get older. I miss slogging through snow and ice to do nothing more than keep going through more snow while wandering the woods.

Of course, along with those snowy walks, I now also have a deep appreciation for wool, for its comfort and warmth, and the fact that it will suck away the sweat from my brow as I struggle my way along the path. Wool is good. Some days, it does pay to be a knitter, I tell you.

During those walks, I love to watch our youngest as he explores. I love to hear him tell his tales of Bigfoot and Mothman. I love to watch him examine the natural world and ask questions. I love watching him leap and jump and run, far far ahead of us, and then right back to us to urge us to hurry up and come see what he has found, be it a stick, or a rock, or something much cooler.

Yes, that, that is what I am looking forward to this month.

What about you?