The Best Time of the Year in Where It All Begins

To be honest, I started listening to Christmas music in early October. I know, I know...it wasn't even Halloween yet, let alone Thanksgiving, and oh gosh let each holiday have its place and everything in due time, yadda yadda yadda...I know. I've heard it all in these past few weeks. I try to keep it quiet and I start every year by listening only when I'm home alone or through my ear buds on a run but as the weeks go by and I get more bold, I start turning it on via Pandora at work or playing it in the car when I'm driving with someone else. Almost always the reactions are negative and almost always I'm asked, usually not without a bit of sass and shock and disgust, to "Turn that off!! Not until after Thanksgiving!" And so I do and I keep it quiet and I go back to listening by myself. Even my husband is against it, and I get the resistance, but oh. You guys. If only I could ever find a way to articulate why this time of year, and especially holiday music, is my very favorite. I wish I could explain why as soon as it starts to get cold and I can't wear shorts and the leaves are turning and I'm wrapping myself in scarfs and hoodies, my holiday spirit starts to grow like a little ember in my chest. Like a secret, my secret, of good days ahead, of peace and joy and happiness, of all the good in the world wrapped up in three months of how we should all act all year round. By Thanksgiving I'm weeks into this mindset and fully in sync with all my favorite tunes and by then that little ember is a raging fire of HOLIDAY SPIRIT and I just have to share it with the world. These last few weeks before I can do that, however, are some of the most challenging. I've been listening for over a month yet so many people are still NOT UNTIL DECEMBER and give me judge-y side eyes and emphatically sigh and sometimes stomp their feet and mutter something about "It's not even Thanksgiving yet..." while shaking their heads sadly at me. I know. I get it. But ohhh....I can't wait until the rest of you guys join in!

To me, this time of year smells like a mixture of cinnamon and pine. It tastes like peppermint and hot chocolate and treats laden with butter and sugar. It sounds like the floating rhythms of Ave Maria, I'll Be Home for Christmas and The Carol of the Bells. It feels cold, a snap in the air, throwing on an extra layer, donning favorite fuzzy soft mittens and cozy warm ear muffs. It looks like the first set of twinkly Christmas lights going up in the neighborhood, the sight of my breath as I walk into work, the first few snowflakes twirling down from the heavens, the countdown to the first big snowstorm, the crunch of frosted over leaves beneath my boots.

This time of year fills my inbox with holiday party invites, Christmas plans with the families, holiday market adventures with my friends and ugly sweater get togethers with coworkers. It leads to making to do lists of gifts to buy, crafts to make, cookies to bake, traditions to relive. It makes my heart swell, puts a smile on my face and makes me feel content and excited and happy and hopeful.

This time of year is my favorite, no surprise. It's full of so many good things, so many happy memories, so many chances to begin again or reinforce or reinvent. Chopping down the Christmas tree has been something my little family of four hasn't ever missed doing together. Even if our husbands are busy, my sister and I find our way back home and head off to a local tree farm and, with my parents and all our dogs, wander through the acres upon acres of all kinds of evergreens until we find the perfect one. We nibble on apple cider doughnuts and blow the steam away on our travel mugs of hot chocolate with extra mini marshmallows and we link mittened hands through thick winter coat enveloped arms and we steal a few hours of being just the four of us again. My dad always take his time tying the tree to the top of the family car and the rest of us wrangle the dogs back inside the warm cab. We listen to Christmas music on the way there and the way back and we always count how may other Christmas trees we see tied to the tops of the cars. Before we set off we all guess a total number of trees that we will see and an hour later when we pull back in the garage of my childhood home with our own tree safely secured on the roof, we total up how many other trees we saw and declare a 'winner' of nothing more than pride.

We have a family cookie day every year as well. My aunt's kitchen is always overflowing with bustling bodies, all the women on my mom's side of the family filling up her house until we're all red cheeked from peeking in the constantly open ovens and with sore arms from so much stirring and recipe book page turning and hugging tightly as new people arrive. We make hundreds of cookies and take tons of silly pictures and with flour caked aprons and happy hearts, we never walk away anything more than thankful and happy and exhausted in the way being with your favorite people can make you.

And between all the traditions and events and the parties and the festivities, I keep listening to the music. I keep playing it in my car, in my ear buds, on my Pandora at work, on my laptop while I do chores around the house. It is the music of my truest, deepest, happiest place. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but this season and this type of music has been the background of so many of my favorite memories. This music plays for over a month straight during family dinners and gift openings and parties and get togethers and it never ceases to just make me happy. And in a world that sometimes seems hellbent on making life difficult or frustrating, I'll always choose the things that make me happy.

So here's to whenever you all choose to join me in 'the spirit of the season', be it today or next week or NOT UNTIL DECEMBER. :) I can't wait to give you a big old hug, pass over a mug of steaming hot cocoa and throw in a favorite holiday classic. It's the best time of the year.