It's Not Christmas Yet

It's November, which means it's time for my annual rant. I'm not ready to hear sleigh bells or see snowmen everywhere I look. Christmas is over a month away and there's another major holiday (in the US, anyway) to enjoy between now and then. That's right: Thanksgiving. Give one of the nations' few original holidays its due and hold off on the Christmas festivities until after the turkey  leftovers are gone.

Now don't get me wrong. I love Christmas. While it's pretty much a secular holiday in my household, I'm very much into the whole idea of gift giving and making merry. Almost every culture on Earth has some sort of festival during the darkest time of the year, and there's a reason for that. When the weather gets bleak and historically, food starts to get scarce, it's important to have something to cheer people up. But, perhaps because I am such an overgrown kid about Christmas, I like to savor the season. If I drag it out too long, then I run into the gloomy situation of getting bored with it. I'd rather look forward to December than break out the holiday CDs early. That way, even the event of starting the season is special.

More significantly, I like to enjoy Thanksgiving as a stand-alone holiday, not as the run-up to the big one. I refuse to spend that day Christmas shopping. (And I avoid black Friday like crazy.) Mostly, though, I think we've lost the simpler pleasure of Thanksgiving in our manic rush toward December. Whether your Thanksgiving  celebrations have religious elements or not, taking time to appreciate the good things in our lives is never wasted. Harvest festivals are another age-old tradition and whether we have dinner for four or twenty, I love the idea of coming together to celebrate family, friends, and abundance. Even in lean years, there was always food on the table. That's something to be thankful for.

So enjoy your November, whether you're like me, or even if you're one of the early-Christmas-ers. It's okay to do things your own way. I'll be here, stashing those Christmas romance stories, saving them for Dec. 1. It works for me. :)

BTW, if you're interested in a book that features Thanksgiving, I have two that come to mind. For erotic romance, check out One Good Man, from Ellora's Cave, by me and Lacey Thorn. Or if you like a more paranormal tale, you can read Motor City Mage, from Carina Press.