Here it comes!!

Is it just me, or does it seem like this time of year come faster every year? Does time speed up once we get to October? First it's Columbus Day, all of a sudden Halloween, and then--BAM! Thanksgiving?? Then of course, you know what comes next!! Yes, exactly, the holidays. Here they come, ready or not.

Friday night, my husband and I went out on a "date". It was a belated date for our 8th anniversary, which was in October, but being as though we have 2 kids and a crazy schedule, this was the first time we were able to get away. We couldn't really think of what to do for our night out, except go to the local Barnes and Noble and look at books and such, so we figured, why don't we start our holiday shopping?? We'd be so early. Kudos to us for being good parents and getting it done, we thought. We are ahead of the rush. However, it seems we are not so early. We went out to the nearest Toys R' Us, and guess what they were playing? Christmas music! They were ready for us. We did do our shopping anyway, and we did well (it's nice having little kids--their toys are relatively inexpensive as of yet, so you spend not so much and walk away with a whole bunch of stuff), but I couldn't help thinking that wasn't there a time when the Christmas music only started around Thanksgiving? And then my husband reminded me that there was one year that we went somewhere and it was October 17th and the music was already playing. So then when did Christmas start in October? What is going on?

Michael's has had it's Christmas stuff up for weeks. In fact, I went there on Monday, which was only the 29th of October, and the Halloween stuff was all clearanced in a little pile in the corner at 75% off. Yikes, folks. I can look in the Lowe's (which I won't do yet, but I could) and see the trees being displayed, and I was in a Home Depot early in October and took a stroll through their developing Christmas department with my kids. I saw Christmas commercials on TV last night. Are you kidding me?? Do we really need to a) buy that much stuff and b) rush through our lives just a bit more? Can we not enjoy the season? What happened to Thanksgiving?

I do love this time of year--I know I've said it before. The air is now getting nice and crisp up here, and the heat is on in the mornings to warm up the house. I know it's not long before it's on full time. The trees behind the house are putting on the most MAGNIFICENT show of colors that you can believe (I owe you all some pictures of this--I will post some in the next couple of days). The days are shortening, and it's just about time for fires in the fireplace. Can we not all enjoy this first, before the turn over to December? Once we get there, this will be over. Gone, done, not coming back for a year. Can we all just step back for a minute?

So has anyone got any tips? Do you know how to slow down time? Cause I sure don't. But if I could, I would, just for now. I just want to enjoy the fall before it's over. I can't be the only one, can I??