Thanksgiving Countdown, Day One: The Very Best Time of Year

This is sincerely, undoubtedly, unarguably the best time of the year.

Evie's jack-o-lantern

It begins with Halloween season, with the spooky decorations and opportunities to play dress-up. There's candy everywhere, and the occasional fun TV special. You might introduce your kids to Ghostbusters or The Nightmare Before Christmas. You watch them all and feel like a kid again.

Between parties, trick-or-treating, and other Halloweeny activities, you have plenty of chances to wear crazy costumes and makeup. You might even decide to dress up for no good reason at all. This is the time of year that you can get away with it! Who's going to judge? They can't tell who you are under the mask, anyway.

On the bridge in the corn maze

There are corn mazes and pumpkin patches and apple cider. And, if you're lucky, the weather finally cools off! Everything turns red and orange and gold, and you get to pull your sweaters and boots out of your closet and put them to good use. You start to enjoy chilly mornings, hot cocoa, and a fire in your fireplace.

You have lots of frivolous, crazy, silly fun with your friends and family. And it only gets better from there.

Sheldon, Bernadette, Amy, and Leonard

Our "Thankful Turkey"

Immediately after Halloween, we get a month of counting our blessings and being grateful for the beautiful people, things, and moments in our lives. We might start a "blessing a day" kind of thing, like this blog, or write down what we're grateful for in a journal. We start to notice all the little "I love yous" God gives us in our everyday lives.

The weather cools off more (finally highs in the 60s here!), and you may even get some rain! When you do, you're so happy you might just go dance in it, or jump into some puddles with your kids.

Pie-eating contest!

You start making plans for visiting loved ones. As you plan the trips, you start feeling giddy at the idea of seeing your parents, siblings, children, or grandkids. Because, of course, they're the best!

You eat delicious stews and soups. You bake pies, pumpkin bread, cookies, and other treats. The smell of pumpkin, cinnamon, and apples fills the air. Your house smells like love.

You spend time thinking about all the things that bring you joy.

Eating pies: utensils, optional

Then, after a few weeks, it culminates in a family gathering around the table, where everyone eats, talks, laughs, and shares the things they're grateful for. You make new memories together.

This jingle bell ROCKS!

The next thing, of course, is Christmastime. The feeling of joy, goodwill, and gratitude grows. People are more charitable, more patient, more kind. You go out of your way to find people to serve. You might donate to Toys for Tots, or play Santa to a family who doesn't have much. You find great joy in helping others.

Beautiful decorations go up everywhere, making everything seem magical. Everything glitters. There are gorgeous evergreen trees, festooned with tinsel, ornaments, and twinkling lights. Presents pile up underneath, physical tokens of love for the people in your life.

She's snow cute

The scent of cookies floods the house. You spend all your time listening to holiday music. There are constantly Christmas specials on TV, including the ones you watched as a child. The sights, smells, and sounds carry you back to your childhood, and you remember all of the magical Christmases you knew in your youth.

A nativity might sit in a place of honor in your home. You walk past it frequently, and are reminded of the Savior. You spend more time thinking about your loved ones, and how to make them happy. You may also think of how you can better serve the Lord, who gave us the greatest gift of all. And you resolve to do better, and be better, and live better, than you did before.

This whole three-month chunk of the year is magical. It truly is the very best time of the year. And I'm grateful that it's finally here!

The Stickney-Fifield annual nativity