I can't believe it is November 1st already.  The temperature seems to be dropping even more as the days go on and I heard of some places that saw snow yesterday.  When the weather gets colder, my heart gets warmer because two of my favorite holidays are in the last two months of the year: Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It is a very nostalgic, warm, sometimes tough time for me. 

Growing up we had traditions during the holidays.  We would usually host Thanksgiving at the Waterford House.  My immediate family would be there and we would wake up Thanksgiving morning to my Mom's salad maker or her chopping vegetables.  We would put the Thanksgiving Day Parade on and then all take turns getting dressed for the day.  My Dad and I would always make Pumpkin Pie together and I used to have to stand on a stool to help stir the ingredients and he would always have to break the eggs because I would get some shell in there every time.  One year we accidentally doubled a recipe that was already doubled and made eight pies instead of four.  We kept them in the freezer and tried giving them away to family members.  I remember writing poems on this day to share at the table before we ate and I would sometimes do the blessing.  My Dad would cut the turkey and we would dig in.  I remember I would eat so many helpings of mashed potatoes and gravy that I always felt sick.  My sisters would rub my stomach after dinner and we would have a football game on.  I would always have room for Pumpkin Pie though!  Of course the next couple of days we would have leftover Thanksgiving sandwiches which were all of the fixings between two pieces of bread.  The food tasted even better the next day. 

The day after Thanksgiving was the time when we would get the Christmas CD's out and start listening to them.  Christmastime was magical for me growing up.  We would have a tradition of decorating the tree about a week or so before Christmas Eve.  Slowly presents would fill up around the bottom.  We would watch It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve night, read Christmas books under the lighting of the tree and would get matching pajamas to wear to bed.  I always used to sleep with my sister on Christmas Eve and we would get up super early around 5 in the morning to go downstairs.  We had a spiral staircase and the living room was just underneath it so walking down those stairs and seeing the Christmas Tree and the fire going, the plate of cookies/carrots eaten and the stockings full took my breath away.  I always ran to my Dad first to check and see if Santa left me a note.  He sometimes did.  Then I would go sit by my stocking and patiently wait for everyone to wake up.  I would be the one to open my stocking first and we would go around in a circle, each of us would have a laundry basket to put our presents in.  Then someone would be elected "Santa's Elf" and pick the first round of presents from under the tree.  Afterwards, my Mom would make a big pancake breakfast and we would eat and then go back and open the rest of the presents.  It would take us all morning.  Then the rest of the day would be spent playing with our presents, visiting with other family and maybe watching Christmas movies.

The Waterford House during the holidays was always special to me even when my siblings went off to college and sometimes they couldn't make it to some Christmases.  Even when they began their own families and two of them moved down south.  Even when I went off to college myself and came home for the holidays.  I always felt that place was a safe haven for me.  It was a magical place.  It was my paradise, my home.  So when we sold the house back in the Spring of 2014, I took it pretty hard.  That is why the holidays are bittersweet for me.  Everyone has their own families now and starting their own traditions and I can't stop thinking about being back at the house where I grew up.

Happy November to you all. 
I hope you make the most of this new month. 
I hope you make the most of each new moment. 

Love,
Rose