There is a period of time right after All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day when it seems that we already have to start thinking about Christmas and we haven’t even reached Thanksgiving yet.
I suppose this feeling happens if we watch network TV and advertisers are pushing the envelope by starting Christmas ads right after Halloween. The store shelves are full of Christmas merchandise even before Halloween is over. Some people have already decked out their houses with all the trimmings, or, at least on the outside of their houses. I read something the other day where the mom was not going to feel “guilty” for starting to decorate early if it brings her and her family joy. I suppose there are worse things in the world.
The month of November seems to get pushed out of the way even with the national Thanksgiving holiday present toward the end of the month with the day after kicking off the “official” start to the holiday shopping season.
Advent will soon be upon us where we intentionally take inventory of our lives and where the expectancy becomes more pronounced awaiting the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I think it is a waiting on both ends. He is waiting for us and we are waiting for Him.
As the vibrant colors of October give way to the more muted tones of November we can turn off the TV and take a walk in the early evening darkness to encounter God in the stillness, to think about our lives and the lives of our loved one’s that have gone before us which is what we traditionally celebrate in the Church in November.