Settling In

Truth be told, November's not my favorite month, situated as it is between all the glorious color of October and the snow and festivity of December. It's kind of a gray month, both weather-wise and in the landscape, the leafless trees, the dead and dried grasses. Then there's that whole, be careful walking out your front door 'cause it's hunting season thing (C and I have a perennial discussion about whether the kids should have to wear orange hats on their walk up and around and over our 1200 foot long driveway, through the woods, on their way to the bus each morning).

So I put a little extra effort into welcoming the season inside our home to make it feel a little more bright.

Again we waxed some leaves this year (very quickly after dinner Saturday night). I missed most of the really good color, but I did find a sugar maple right near the house that we didn't even know we had, with big beautiful yellow leaves. I ran across this post from last year and loved the way they looked in the carnival glass, so I did that again (how did I ever remember anything before I had a blog to document my every move??).

Then I completely cleared away and refreshed our nature table, moving all the objects to the window sill (yes, I totally get the irony of having a nature table behind the TV. And no I'm not ashamed!).

Brought out the table runner (on the B side).

And put this fabulous collection of pottery handmade by my kiddos in the kitchen window (they have a wonderful art teacher who includes a clay lesson almost every year). The colors and the shapes just feel very Thanksgivingy to me for some reason.

How do you combat the November blues if you get them or do you love this time of year?