It's November!

Happy Day After Halloween! Halloween is one of the few holidays in which I may actually be more excited the day afterwards then on the holiday itself. That's probably because of the even greater holidays just around the corner! I've always found it extremely appropriate to start listening to Christmas music after Halloween. Christmas is too fun to only celebrate for one month... I think it deserves 2. Not to overshadow Thanksgiving, however. I love Thanksgiving as well. It's an enjoyable time. Lots of good food, the last of the pretty fall colors, and time with family, AND the "official" and possibly more socially-accepted-beginning of Christmas! I guess I've made it clear what my favorite holiday of the year is. Why do I love Christmas? This is a good question. Here are some things that come to mind, in no particular order:

1. The holiday music!
2. Snow (Good thing we will be visiting in Utah during the Christmas holidays, otherwise, this most favorite of traditions would be lost... I fear that no snow will be coming to Arizona anytime soon).
3. Christmas decorations
4. A twinkling Christmas tree (I especially enjoy lying underneath the Christmas tree at night with only the tree lights on. It's so pretty to look up through all the lights!)
5. Temple Square outings... always way too cold, but full of great memories!
6. Advent (a tradition from Ben's family that I've particuarly been happy to adopt as one of my own... Over the years, Ben and I have really enjoyed inviting friends over and spending time with them reading scriptures, singing Christmas hymns, and eating awesome desserts!)
7. Getting up early on Christmas morning with the family and fishing through stockings.

There are many more, but I will bore you (if I haven't already) if I continue any further. This last one I mentioned, though, made me think of something else. I have extremely vivid memories of getting up EARLY (like 4:00... and we would have gotten up earlier if mom and dad hadn't started setting rules... later on, I remember we weren't allowed to peek downstairs until 5 and we couldn't wake up mom and dad till 6 or 7). Anyway, my siblings and I would have a pact to wake each other up if were still sleeping so we could go downstairs all together. We would be soooo excited to see what was hiding by the Christmas tree and under our stockings. This makes me realize what a good job my parents did of making Christmas exciting, magical, and memorable for us kids. Now that Ben and I are parents of a growing family, we were now realizing the fun task we have of making the holidays exciting and worthwhile for our children. It was soooo fun to go trick or treating with Emma! I've been way too old for trick or treating for quite some time now and it was wonderful to be able to get away with going out again! I get to relive all my childhood fun all over again through my own kids. How exciting! And this time I get to watch Emma (and other's to come) have fun like I did when I was little. Speaking of having fun, Emma is once again wearing her Tinkerbell costume this morning. She loves dressing up and loves to wear her wings and tutu. She's such a girl.

So, I took some pictures of what the Morning After Halloween looks like. First, is Emma dressing up again (but not in her full attire) and enjoying a taste of her loot from last night.

Speaking of loot, here is a good chunk of the candy Emma has collected over the past few days. Obviously mom and dad will have to help out. Darn. ;)


The last of the pictures is frightening indeed.... and that is of Moldy Pumpkin Man. A thing I've learned is that pumpkins don't last very long in Arizona. It's just too warm, even at the end of October, to keep pumpkins preserved. Poor Pumpkin Man. We will need to dispose of him quickly before we scare the neighbors.