It’s a bit early…

but since it began snowing this week, I've been in the Christmas mood. At work we've begun playing some Christmas music while we're doing our thing, and the skies have turned grey. Shopping season has started, my mailbox is full of catalogues, and the lights are up on the front of the house (although they will not be turned on until Thanksgiving, next week!)

Call me a little over the top, but to me the Christmas season is like good design. Yes, yes, I know. Stretching a bit. But there's something about the way the season progresses that makes it not only feel whole, but feel right. October begins to see crisp air and brilliant blue skies punctuated by blazing orange and red leaves. Likewise, bonfires spring up with their own blue and orange flames in backyards. The colors of the fall are complimented by the smells of spices (and delicious taste of pumpkin spice lattés!) and wood smoke. You feel in in your skin, see it in your eyes, taste it on your lips, you smell it in your nose. You hear the rustle of leaves in the wind, or the crunch beneath your feet which goes on into November, through to Thanksgiving which is midway point. It's where that crunching is no longer leaves, but begins to be the half inch of snow that fell during the first half of the ball game. The hot chocolate you drank in October begins to shift, and now it's got a hint of mint in it. Steadily the oranges fade to browns, and to greys, but the red stays just as brilliant as ever as houses around the country begin to decorate (let's not kid ourselves, retailers did it back in August..). Sweaters get thicker and turn to coats. The crisp air gets cold, but clean. The smells of ginger and cardimom slowly fade into cinnimon and mint — still rich, but sweeter. The fires and the wood smoke remain as well, but instead you enjoy them in front of the fireplace, ready to be snowed in because, baby, it's cold outside. The season is made whole because each of our senses is stimulated in some sort of magical synergy. Hope comes alive in the middle of what would otherwise be a season of death and dearth. The darkest time of year, and the feelings of isolation, instead bring us all together, reunited as a single mankind. And, for a few months, everything can be right with the world.

So, with all of that said, I live you with an illustration as we begin to transition into the next stage of this marvelous holiday season: