Signs of the Season (SOS)

Several posts back I observed that the holiday season actually begins (for me) just before Halloween with the church's Harvest Celebration. I had planned to do a blog series on the signs of the season, detailing the things that I observed that confirmed my theory.  However, time passed and, although I thought about the series frequently, it just didn't get done.  So now I just have to offer the following list of the things I've observed in the last month (and please note it does not include all the seasonal merchandise seen in the stores since August).

 

1)  Wednesday night and sometimes Saturday morning choir practices, singing "Christmas, Christmas, it's Christmas time", getting ready for the Pops concert.  Director is frazzled and keeps repeating "people, please mark your music so we don't have to keep going over this".

2)  Cranberry Bread.  This has been a family tradition for at least 35 years.  I always make it for Thanksgiving morning, and time permitting, Christmas morning, too.  When the packages of cranberries appear in the store I know it is a SOS!

3)  Remember those nandina berries I posted about?  They are a delicate pink now.

4)  The Christmas cactus that came from my great-aunt Jessie's in Monte Vista MS put forth the usual buds the week before Thanksgiving and has commenced to bloom.

5)  The Dickens Village has re-appeared in my living room, thanks to Jaydon for the set up.

6)  Stacks of mail order catalogs, enticing the reader to spend, spend, spend (to the recycling bin you go, my dears!)  And those beautiful magazines filling my mail box with all their creative ideas for those who have creative time are now neatly stacked in a basket for a future read, maybe after New Years.

6)  Family gathered together around the Thanksgiving table; a Friday trip to the Country Peddler Show followed by dinner at a favorite Mexican restaurant.  This is a long standing family tradition, a SOS for sure.

7)  Wreaths and garlands appearing on light posts and store fronts.  I especially love to drive through a nearby community that retains its '50s charm; their Christmas decorations remind me of those from my childhood.

 

More to come, the season is moving right along!

 

(Note that there are no pictures in this post.  Blogger has decided that I've used up all my free photo space.)