Time vacuum

Living here in Spain is definitely showing me a different culture. When I left home in early September, stores already had aisles filled with Halloween candy and decorations. Here, I saw nothing really that indicated that the October holiday is celebrated.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago when I was watching the final game of the World Series streaming from some TV station in Florida, I saw a Best Buy commercial with a Christmas tree and presents. Then, my friend Mike McGuff blogged about Sonic's new Holiday Spiced Sugar Cookie Blast and Holiday Spiced Hot Chocolate being offered back home. Finally, yesterday I was doing some online browsing at bloomingdales.com and their website is all decked out with snowflakes and ornaments.

What am I getting at, you ask? Without these little reminders, it's hard to keep in mind that it's getting to be that season. Other than the fact that the temperature is dropping, there's really nothing that shouts autumn. (Obviously I don't expect anything Thanksgiving-related, but still, it's quite a change from the CT fall foliage I got used to, and warm cider, and all that.) And there's certainly not anything suggestive of winter or Christmas yet, and frankly, I don't know if there will be. (It would be silly of me to simply assume that.) It's a little strange, because I'm so used to being surrounded by those kinds of things by this point (and increasingly so once it's December) in America that I think I maybe took it for granted. Alas, I guess it's just one more thing to look forward to when I head back to the States! ^_^