Here's to the holiday season once more...

 It’s the best time of year again. When life gets a little more exciting as each month passes - all ending in “-embers” or “-ers.” 

There’s pumpkin season with lattes and books and flannel shirts. Nora Ephron movies and dreaming of New York City, walking through Central Park. Coffee dates in cafes while taking cute pictures for your Instagram feed. Gilmore girls rewatches. Oversized sweaters. Antiquing in small towns. Apple picking. Harvest festivals. Playlists for drives on country roads as the trees gradually fade from yellows to orange and deep shades of red. When “Red (Taylor’s Version)” is on repeat and becomes the soundtrack for all of the late night hangouts, road trips and quiet time, writing alone. Candles that smell like campfire and burning wood, with hints of cinnamon, old literature, cedarwood and amber. Baking all of the festive treats like apple pies, muffins, cheesecakes and more. 

It fades into spooky season with haunted houses, corn mazes, scary stories, spiderwebs and pumpkin patches. Leaves start falling and crunch beneath your boots. Football games are on TV, tailgating if you attend in person. Perusing bookstores and curling up with a good book on the couch under a cozy blanket and hot beverage of choice. Fuzzy socks that warm your feet. Family programming for everyone to watch together and enjoy. Lots of eating. Thanksgiving around the table with loved ones. Thankfulness and Black Friday sales, to add more to your list. 

Soon, it’s the last month of the year - December. The days are chilly - blustery, rainy. Heavy coats, mittens and scarves. Cute, fancy dresses for office holiday parties. Christmas lights sparkling as you drive from neighborhood to neighborhood, laughing all the way. Ugly sweater competitions. Gift exchanges. Christmas trees. Nativity scenes. Holiday spectaculars and specials on TV. Mistletoe hanging over the doorway. Decking the halls. Santa Claus. Hallmark movies and sweet stories in books, set in snow globe-like towns. Shopping for the perfect presents for the ones you love. Ice skating, school programs, gingerbread baking and house building. George Michaels’ “Last Christmas” and “Please Come Home for Christmas” by the Eagles playing on every station of the radio, but you still love to sing along anyway. The dim living room glows with only toy towns and bulbs from decorations cascading on the walls. It’s “Christmas Vacation” and “Home Alone” classics, to remind you that you’re not the only one with a dysfunctional family and how crazy this time of year can often make people. It’s memories throughout the year and year’s past that make us more sentimental than usual. A time for reflection; what worked, what didn’t and hopes and prayers for what’s to come. 

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5….. HAPPY NEW YEAR! The ball drops in Times Square, live from New York City on Ryan Seacrest’s Rockin’ Eve, just like every year before, and 2024 is in front of us. Calendars change, resolutions made, and no need for looking back on any mistakes made. And so we do it all over again, with new moments and photos on our camera roll, video clips to make us laugh again in the future and dreams checked off of our bucket lists we’ve been making for years. 

I’m ready for it.