tis the season!

if you live in my house you know this: i listen to christmas music starting the week before halloween. go ahead, hate me. i still love you. and no, this is no excuse for my family's christmas tree to be up until my birthday {march...yah, i know right?}

so maybe i've started my christmas selection a little earlier this year; a whole half a week before the week before all hallows eve....

but that's okay. because we had fall break and even if it didn't snow, it's getting into heavy coats and cute scarves season. which reminds me, i need to find mine.

the colors this year were beautiful. down here in elk ridge the mountains are covered mostly with foliage so instead of ugly brown interspersed by the blessings of a few colors, mostly reds up north, we have splashes of color all across our mountains. at the base you have the brightest oranges and reds you have ever seen then going further up you have the yellows of birches in the valleys and the dark green evergreens at the tops of those valleys and then at the tippy-top of the mountain you have that beautiful fresh snow we got about a week and a half ago. it's beautiful to say the least. excuse my blatant bragging...i'm pretty proud of my mountains. i took this picture.

and then there are the smells. oh, the smell of rotting dead leaves is really...well, sounds horrible but it's smell is divine. go ahead and call me weird but i love it.

christmas is just around the corner. i'm already thinking about what presents to give my friends this year. i've got some great ideas. so many memories waiting to be made. oh and we have plans to go up to Temple Square too, to see the lights. i'm really excited for that one, because that is my favorite place on earth, without a doubt and without even a pause to think. i know. (:

so excuse me if my song list is mostly comprised of christmas songs, but how can i help it? i'm in love with the season. i mean, who doesn't love gingerbread and candy canes? who doesn't love a cold evening with friends singing carols and then ending up at someone's house for hot chocolate and some folk songs on the guitar {one of my favorite christmas memories as a child...}

and then...then there's the real meaning of christmas too. Christ. the celebration of His birth. it's so beautiful, that it almost takes my breath away.

maybe life is just too wonderful and good to be true right now for me, so the happiness of everything else is spilling over into my writing about the small things. anyway, i love you. i hope i've gotten you excited at least a little bit. i hope that as soon as you are done reading this you jump out of your chair {or onto youtube...whichever you prefer} and begin getting those christmas CD's out, blowing last year's dust off of them, and begin the ritual once again of christmas love and joy.

here's to the season, my dear dear friends.

PS! this halloween i'm going to be elphaba from the show wicked. or however you spell it. yes, that's right...i'm going to be green. i'm super excited. pictures will be posted.