It's November!

November 4, 2025

Yeah! It’s November! I absolutely love every last bit of November—the leaves, the colors, the crisp air, the pumpkins, apples, and pecans, the smell of burning leaves, of holiday spices, and Thanksgiving. I absolutely adore Thanksgiving. And this year, it’s even better because the last Thursday of November falls late in the month.

When Thanksgiving is early, the month feels truncated. After the holiday weekend, the world automatically turns to Christmas, and I always feel a little cheated—like I only got three weeks of November instead of the full four. This year, I get the whole month!

My kids, who always found it amazing that Thanksgiving (and not Christmas) is my favorite holiday, once asked me to rank the top three days of the year. They were stunned to learn Christmas wasn’t among them. In my humble opinion, Thanksgiving ranks top, then Christmas Eve, and then December 23.

That it's a day of gratitude, the anticipation of time together, is what I find so alluring. Thanksgiving is all about being together with minimal expectations. Christmas, on the other hand, is full of expectations, gifts I may or may not get right, parties I may or may not get invited to, decorations that may or may not be what others want. Christmas Eve is similar to Thanksgiving. There’s excitement in the air but there aren’t any deadlines. It’s just time to enjoy being together. Come the morning of the 25^th, though, and the show begins.

So what does all of this have to do with writing?

Well, what’s your favorite month of the year? And, more importantly, why? I think that’s a very revealing detail and worth sharing and recording. After all, we learn the most about who people are or were through the details of their lives—the broad strokes, like where they worked, are just the tip of the iceberg. Why did they work there? That’s the kind of detail that starts to get at who someone was as a human being.

I can tell you how much love Thanksgiving, but it’s only when I comment on how competitive Christmas feels to me that you begin to get a sense of me as a person.

One November I told a new friend how happy I was the calendar page had turned. She looked aghast. “I hate November,” she said. “It means we’re headed into the chaos of the holidays. But I love March,” she added rapturously, “the beginning of spring and summer’s not far behind and with it, the luxury of long days with my family.”

I thought about it. She feels the same about Christmas as I do, but for her it manifests in disliking a month I love so much. For me, November encapsulates what I enjoy about the holidays without the stuff I don’t. But I hate March. It’s my least favorite month. It’s messy and gross and cold—it is supposed to be the beginning of spring but doesn’t remotely feel like it—a total disconnect of a month (in my opinion). I haven’t dissected the deeper meaning there, but I love knowing how much she loves March and why she feels that way. I also really love how these opinions show how we’re both the same and different, and why.