Rainy November Days

November has finally arrived, bring with it a late dawn {oh, that extra hour of sleep will be wonderful once the baby figures out the time change} and for some of us, we got a wonderful taste of rain. All stocked up on on-sale candy and with clean laundry done, we headed off to church on Sunday after a productive Saturday and drove through the rain to Mass. It rained the whole day. We could hear it in church during brief quiet moments, we watched it from our windows as we housecleaned and played with the baby, we walked through it to my parents' door when we stopped for a visit and it lulled us to sleep all night long. The rain came down in soft waves silently landing on the orange and green leaves outside the window, then rose to a steady beat in a downpour of twenty minutes or more before resuming its quiet dripping. In the morning it tapered off for a few hours to a lovely drizzle, the sky still dark grey. Peeking outside the window, the grass looks a hopeful green shade rather than a sad brown and the carpet of fallen leaves glistens with fresh raindrops.

Oh, how I love the rain. I say it all the time and I really mean it. It's so calming, peaceful and exhilarating all at the same time. It washes the air, cleans the roads and waters the garden. I can take a screaming baby out onto the porch and instantly she'll be filled with wonder as the rain comes down in shifting waves and cool wet drops. It inspires me to write poems and epic stories, to sit down and read to the baby or curl up with my own book, and it makes me happy. I know when it's raining that the awful hot summer is over and more comfortable weather is ready to be enjoyed. And since we're also in a drought, it means the weather people will be happy for a few days. At least until they go outside and measure just how much rain actually fell.

And November is a fun festive month. Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday in my family; we all start looking forward to it and planning for it in September and October. The routine for many years was to attend a big dinner at my Aunt's house. My parents hosted for the last two years to give her a break and switch things up but now the family is gathering at her house this year and it looks to be a grand event. We've got two new babies to introduce to our favorite foods, all the extended relatives and my Aunt's dogs. And we've several new cookie and pie recipes we're just itching to get our hands on. At least, my sister and I are anyway. I found a pie book at the library over the summer and we both went through it, picking out fun recipes to try. That reminds me; I need to head over to the library or possibly the online bookstore. Be right back. *wink*

With Thanksgiving around the corner, Christmas looming threateningly in the distance and our weekends rather booked for the whole month, November certainly won't be a dull month for us. And I'm doing an experiment in efficiency by shooting for getting all the Christmas shopping done in November {there's not much left since I've been whittling away at it for a few months}, and then spend December wrapping and shipping out the presents early so I can focus on baking some yummy cookies to stick in my family's stockings. *grins* I love baking my small selection of Christmas cookies though gingerbread men are off the menu since they kinda failed last year. No worries; everyone in my family prefers chocolate anyway.

Now to scroll Pinterest for more fun ideas and recipes. Bye!