Time to wind down for the rest of the year

This time of year, as the nights draw in, there is this unwritten invitation to slow down a little. To shift down a gear, to get into go-slow mode.

November holds a sense of anticipation and awe for me. As shops and businesses start decorating their windows in an array of bright, jewel colours, and people start bustling about buying Christmas gifts, I feel the magic building. Even having the lounge fire lit, a candle or two on the hearth and some fairy lights twinkling in the background, makes everything seem better, somehow.

I love nothing more than scurrying home after a day at work, pulling my fluffy socks on and putting my feet up with a cup of tea in front of the fire.

November even has its own specific smell. Coal fires, bonfires, petrichor, leaf mulch, firework discharge, cinnamon, frost. Ok so frost doesn’t smell, but it does have its own charge if you like. It makes everything shimmer and glisten. And my inner child loves breathing out on a cold day, pretending to smoke like we did as a child.

I love making soups and stews in my slow cooker, coming back to something hot, nutritious and delicious. That involves lots of therapeutic chopping of vegetables. There’s something deeply soothing about chopping vegetables into satisfyingly uniform chunks, gently warming up the sugars in the vegetables by sweating them over a low, buttery heat and then topping with a little yummy chicken stock, with bonus points for homemade chicken stock which encompasses the goodness of the bird.

Wrapping up warm, in coats and boots, going for a brisk walk and coming in with glowing rosy cheeks takes some beating.

Yes for me November is a time of happy anticipation and sensory delights.
What is it like for you?