Why I Am In Love With Autumn: Reason #5 - It Rings in the Season

Need I remind you that there are still two and a half weeks of autumn left, even if it is the Christmas season?  ...Ah, but that is the biggest reason for why I adore the season of Fall so much!  The festivities of fall ring in the holidays and are the perfect beginning to the most wonderful time of year.

how about this for an adorable way to welcome Christmas in the transition of autumn to winter holidays! (source unknown)

 
My first time hosting Thanksgiving went marvelously.  The turkey was scrumptious, the desserts were delectable, and the company was even better.  How I love being surrounded with family for this holiday.  It truly is something to be thankful for.  And what I love so much about Thanksgiving is that it is the kick-off to the Christmas season.  Frankly, what better way is there to begin the Christmas holiday than with a feast of thankfulness?!
 
I am a Christmas dork.  If you thought I was a nut for autumn, you haven't seen me around Christmas.  John complains every year that I don't allow Christmas music in the house until after Thanksgiving, but believe me, by the time Friday rolls around, I am decking the halls and belting carols at the top of my lungs!
 
...However, it killed me this year because I came down with a nasty cold right on Thanksgiving, and it really got the best of me in the days that followed.  Where I would normally be putting up the tree and breaking open the eggnog, instead I was lying on the couch hacking away with no energy to be excited about the holidays in the way that I wanted to be.
 
So I may have gotten a bit of a late start on my Christmas jollies this year, but you can now rest assured that if you enter the Hinton home from now till the end of December (and probably later), you will be enveloped with all the comforts, smells, and festivites of Christmas.  I will offer you the Christmassy beverage of your choice, whether that be egg nog, a holiday tea, or apple cider or a cup of peppermint coco... and you will have a tasty holiday treat to compliment your beverage.  You will hear Christmas tunes gaily ringing from our speakers, and the fireplace will be glowing while the tree is twinkling.  The home is complete with festive fragrances as well.  I have mistletoe hand soap and fresh pine candles and a spiced cider wall plug in.  I am, however, still surrounded by all my Christmas tubs of decorations, but hopefully in a few days those will be empty and our home will feel complete and ready in decor.  I just love decorating for the holidays.  

Still be aware, nonetheless, that I am expecting our little boy to be born any day now.  I am now 35 weeks gestation, and within days of when Charity greeted our world.  Yes, she was a month early.  So I don't know if our little man will be here before or after the Christmas holiday, but in knowing that the time could easily be around the corner, I am attempting to fulfill all my Christmas traditions while I still have the ability to do it.  Besides, the effort is worth celebrating my Savior's birth into our human race.  Without that fact, all of these traditions and festivities would just be a bunch of hoo-ha. Christ's birth is the very finest reason I can think of to celebrate in such a lavish manner.  This truly is the most wonderful time of the year.