Well, it has begun: the holiday season.  For me, it starts with Halloween and goes straight through New Year’s.  Yep, about two months worth.  I’ve already caught flack for the fact that I start listening to Christmas music November 1st (more on that later), but I don’t care.  This is my celebration.  And if my Halloween was any indication of how awesome this year’s festivities will be, things are looking good! 

I had a great weekend of parties and costumes and babies.  As I’ve previously stated in this blog, I love Halloween costumes.  This year, I had a pretty amazing costume, and I’ve never been happier that ugly clothes are back in fashion.  You see, I was Clarissa Darling, that early ’90s Nickelodeon star who would explain it all.  She wore bright colors and lots of obnoxious jewelry.  And I spent about $55 at Kmart and Claire’s Accessories finding the perfect elements to make my costume.  The only thing I was missing were combat boots, which I own, but are at my parents’ house in Chicago.  If only I would have thought of it sooner…  Ah, well.  I went to a great party Friday and got delightfully (I think…I don’t recall slapping anyone) drunk.  The rest of the weekend was spent with adorable babies in costume and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters.  How fantastic.  Anyway, here’s my costume along with its inspiration:

So, onto the next holiday of the season, which you are correct to say is Thanksgiving.  But in my world, Thanksgiving may as well be Christmas Eve.  Don’t get me wrong; I love Thanksgiving.  To me, Thanksgiving is about sharing a meal with people you love and being with my New York family.  Now, I’m lucky enough to have a sister nearby, who is, obviously, my actual family.  But I’ve also been welcomed into this glorious chosen family of hers.  And every year since I’ve moved here, we’ve all had Thanksgiving together.  But I know that some year, were she not to be around for Thanksgiving, I would be welcome at numerous other tables of those in New York who I love and who love me.  Oh, the holidays do make me sentimental, don’t they?  On a lighter note, I also love Thanksgiving for the pie.

As I stated earlier, I caused a bit of an angry convo on facebook when I updated my status that I was listening to Christmas music.  That’s my rule: November 1st.  And that rule isn’t to make me start celebrating early, it’s to keep me from celebrating even sooner!  Christmas means all things winter to me, and winter is my most favorite season.  No joke, I love when the wind is so cold it stings your face.  And once you enter a warm building, you can still feel that sting on your face.  And you can just tell your cheeks and nose are red.  And snow!  Don’t get me started on snow.  In the words of Lorelai Gilmore, fellow snow-lover, “The world changes when it snows.  It gets quiet.  Everything softens.”  Now, I get why it annoys people that stores start putting out one holiday’s items before another holiday has even happened, but I can’t help it.  Sometimes, in the middle of the summer, I’ll just get this Christmasy feeling out of nowhere and wish it were December.  So you don’t have to break out your *NSYNC Home for Christmas CD, but I’m gonna go load it on my iPod.  Don’t begrudge me that.