Where in the world has November gone?

This is the time of year that starts getting to me, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And I don't ever remember a year where November seemed so SHORT.

Being away for 11 days early in the month really messed with my sense of time. I arrived home exactly a week before Thanksgiving day, and it was a week packed full of work obligations, both to catch up with things I'd missed and to prepare for the immediate future--which included, of course, both Thanksgiving and the beginning of Advent. I love Advent as a season, but I'm rarely ready for it and this year is worse than ever.  I know that Christmas will be here before I can really blink,

So I'm thinking about changing things up a bit. I'm pretty much a stickler about not decorating too early,  not getting caught up in the Christmas crazy, but I think that actually works against me in some ways, so I'm trying to relax my rules a bit. We went to the local tree lighting while we were in VT for Thanksgiving, and I really enjoyed it, and it helped me feel more in the spirit of the season. I'm planning on getting the tree earlier this year, and trying not to let Christmas prep pile up so much. At the same time, I'm already thinking there won't be time enough to get everything done, at home or at work. Couldn't we get an extra day a week or something? Maybe November ought to be where the extra days goes in leap year?