There's something in the air...

I had a moment today... one of those moments where you feel a spark in the air and the hair on your arms stands on end.  It's that feeling of the holidays coming upon us.  I look around and see the leaves changing colors and floating to the ground.  The air is cool and crisp, just a little bit of bite so you know you need a coat.  In the early morning hours there is that sparkly layer of frost on the ground that warns us of winter on its way.

I love this time of year.  It seems to be the only time of year when people are truly and genuinely nice to one another.  We all get this bug that infects us with love and compassion and kindness.  People hold doors open for each other, and wave pedestrians across the crosswalk, and smile at passerby on the sidewalk.  This doesn't happen year round, although that would be nice.  

Holiday shopping begins and families are out and about celebrating and traipsing through the snow to peer in windows at beautiful decorations and listen to carolers.  I realize we haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet, but if you walk into Walmart right now you will be overun by Christmas decorations.  The sales are beginning and stores are preparing for the infamous Black Friday.  Department stores are already running continuous tracks of holiday music over their loudspeakers. 

I love walking through the mall, passing gift wrapping stations, and seeing kids bounce with excitement.  I love being in the crowded lines waiting to purchase my well-planned and thought out gifts.  I love spending an hour picking out gift wrap and bags and bows and ribbon.  I love decorating the tree and then sitting with my husband on the couch to take it all in.  I love watching him shake his head when I drag out all of the gifts that have to be wrapped and then obsessively wrap them as perfect as possible, only to watch them be ripped open weeks later.  I love the smell of the pretty holiday candles that we will burn for the next two months.

And I love that I can feel the excitement in the air that everyone else is feeling right now!