purpose of november

Wow! I totally cannot believe that the month of November is upon us. The ugliest month of the entire year! Seriously. It's the only month that has nothing going for it. The cool, colorful, bright days of September and October are long gone now, and we are left with gray, empty trees and a cold, hard ground. The bleakness of the sky is so strong that it often causes an attitude of depression and lonliness. In the blink of an eye, the florescent reds, yellows, and oranges of October vanished into brown-gray nothingness. What now lingers behind are the cold, sharp winds, cloud-filled skies, and bare, creaky trees. No beautiful colors, no happy animals gracing us with their presences, no spunk in the air. We now find our comfort in the smell of the smoke from a wood-fire crackling in a nearby house. We long to bundle up in our pajamas and sweaters by a fire, gratefully grasping a steaming, delicious mug full of hot cocoa or tea. We gaze out the foggy morning windows, watching the earth prepare for the arrival of the shimmering snows of winter. As we trudge through the inhospitible weeks that are called November, we begin to look forward to the wintery days ahead. Our heads begin to fill with thoughts of holidays, scarfs, mittens, snowmen, and ice skating. We daydream about the activities we will participate in during the romantic winter months. We fidget with excitement as we wait for the days when we can bake gingerbread cookies, play games with our family and friends by the light of the fireplace, wrap Christmas presents, and see the look on the faces of those we give them to. We want to smell the fragrance of spices, Christmas trees, and pies. The thoughts of these things are so real, so present, that we can almost taste them. But for the moment, we must wade through the blahness of November. And yet, somehow the winter months would not be the same, would not be welcomed as they are, without the longing and daydreaming that comes in November. We might not be as happy to find the accumulation of snow crystals outside our windows were it not for the temporary duration of the colorless, cold world we now find ourselves in. So daydream. Wish. It will make the upcoming holiday season all the more special when it finally makes its grand entrance.