Fallen Leaves and Premature Decoration

I took this photo last Friday. I was lucky. The gardeners came through over the weekend and cleared the leaves away. Today, the sidewalk was bare of leaves, color and character.

I love when fallen leaves cover entire stretches of sidewalk. They crunch with every step and if I close my eyes, I can almost imagine myself walking in the woods. On most days, I wish the asphalt and concrete would melt away like snow and allow the earth underneath to feel the fresh air and warmth of the sun. That's the idealist in me thinking aloud. The realist in me knows I'd be wishing for surfacing to return once it rained and I found myself slipping and slogging through mud.

It's hard to believe that Christmas lights, wreaths and trees have been up for three weeks now. It seems like retailers and neighbors are suffering from a severe case of premature decoration. It threw my internal holiday clock off and I started listening to Christmas songs last week. I thought I was jumping the gun until I turned the radio on and discovered some stations were already playing continuous holiday music.

This must be the way it is every year, but this year, it seems like we're being told to hurry up, finish our Halloween candy, skip the turkey carving and rush to the nearest mall to get our shopping done. With everything starting so early, will people only be running on Christmas cheer fumes by the time the big day is here?