A week into November already — GAK! Don’t misunderstand, I love the gray lady month wrapped in fog and wind. Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, is just around the corner. Brilliant orange bittersweet drapes branches and fenceposts. Pumpkins’ smiles have drooped a bit, but they still brighten rainy days.
Sweet, the bittersweet.
But, wait, where are all the golds, oranges, rusts, and browns of autumn in the stores? Chocolate kisses, snugged in red, green and silver
foil fill, shelves where just last week, Halloween colors reigned. Sparkly Christmas garlands drape the aisles and already carols pierce the airwaves. Humbug.
Too soon, too soon.
Come September’s end, I sidle into fall. I get out my earth-toned napkins, find my fabric pumpkins, lay in a supply of Reese’s cups for Halloween, and collect pretty leaves to iron between wax paper. I display my special Halloween books too — A Small Book of Grave Humour, Fritz Spiegl, Haunted England, Terrence Whitaker, and Ghosts in Residence, H.A. von Behr.
Then, BOO, gone. September. October. POOF, as if a ghostly hand ripped November out of the year. Our unique American holiday becomes a footnote, passed over like cold mashed potatoes and congealed gravy. Retailers gear up for Christmas weeks before turkey and cranberries are on the shopping list.
Centerpiece waits for Christmas.
Last year I prolonged my favorite holiday by updating my autumn centerpiece with little silver balls and fluttering icicles to meld November into December gently. I’ll do it again this year…after Thanksgiving.
- ©Ryan Owen’s Autumn & Hershey Kisses
Wherever you go, there you are. 
🙂
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You are so lucky to have bittersweet growing wild in your area. We used to drive out along the country roads around Butler (all dirt roads then) and gather it. An annual Fall event. My mother loved bittersweet; she would have vases of it in the house all winter. Thanks for the beautiful pictures and memories! And I agree completely that Christmas commercialism, beginning now even in Sept., is the real Bah Humbug! cj
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This year we have so much bittersweet. It makes even dull days, like this one, bright.
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Agree with you wholeheartedly. Why can’t we enjoy autumn before the snow falls and the Christmas carols start. Now you know I love Christmas as it Jesus birthday, but that too is forgotten.Retails greed has ruined autumn and Thanksgiving. Good for you keeping autumn through the month of November. Enjoy your favorite holiday.
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Thanks, Robin.
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Amen sister!!!
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Driving home after work last week I was shocked at the number of houses, lit up for Christmas like it was right around the corner!! UGH! No Christmas till the weekend after Thanksgiving, that’s our rule!!!
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