Merry Christmas, already?!?

I love Christmas, in fact it is my favorite holiday, and not because of presents and cookies (although those don't really hurt any). I love the music (well, the sacred music more than the silly, inane pop songs), the feeling of the season, and giving gifts. That said, I don't like Christmas before Thanksgiving, before Advent starts. The season has its place, and by not starting too early, I can stand the decorations, songs and whatnot for the entire season. Retailers, however, do not seem to see things my way. The Wegman's that we shop at has had fake Christmas trees on sale for several weeks. Today, Halloween, when I went to get some candy for tonight, I was lucky to find any - most of it had been removed in favor of Christmas candy. Honestly, can't they wait one more day, at least, so that it is November? And then I found this article in the NYTimes about how WalMart is going to jump-start the season by having its first big sale this weekend, instead of waiting until the day after Thanksgiving. C'mon! This is just encouraging rampant consumerism and obscuring any redeeming values of the season. Even if you aren't religious, Christmas ought to be about peace on earth and goodwill toward men, not shopping 'til you are so in debt you are in danger of losing your house!

Halloween Wednesday

Good grief! Tomorrow is November already, and Thanksgiving is only 3 weeks away! We are prepared for trick-or-treaters, and are likely to get more than we ever did in Austin (which was none - although I would have thought apartments would be prime pickings). Too bad, because left-over candy is as close to trick-or-treating as I am likely to get until I have children. Dad, dressed in a frightful old man mask, was usually the one who went with me when I would go ... Ah well, maybe there will still be some candy on sale when I go grocery shopping this weekend.

I have finished my first knitting project, although I hesitate to give it such a grand name. I didn't really make it into anything, and it is too short to be a proper scarf, and too narrow to be a place mat or cat mat. Oh well. Next up I am going to try a real scarf. But, that is about all I am up to at the moment, which is a shame, since there are so many interesting yarns at the store, and Benjamin and I only need so many scarves. Well, you may all be getting scarves as Christmas gifts, ha ha!

I put out a suet feeder this morning, now that it is cold, and I already have a new bird: a downy woodpecker! Wahoo!

Christmas picture, circa 1981

A few posts ago I mentioned my favorite leaf picture was one that we used as a Christmas card when I was a little kid. My dad has passed it on, so here it is, in case you were curious:
Our leaves (circa 2007) are still falling, and I will probably have to go rake them again soon. We had a light frost on the back lawn this morning, and it is cold, despite the sun. Time to break out the long johns (if only I actually had some already...)