PUMPKIN TIME

This is truly my favorite time of year.

I love autumn. As excited as I get for this time of year I have a hard time expressing my enthusiasm when I live in Florida; unfortunately we really don't have an autumn. Florida experiences the disgusting Summer heat for nine months out of the year allowing Winter and Spring to fight over the remaining three months.  We miss the blazing orange, red, and yellow of the trees right before they go to sleep for the Winter and never get to experience the crisp breeze blow through our hair or over our bald head.

Even when most citizens are flipping their calendars over into October, pulling out their fleece sweaters, covering up their pools, and turning on their vehicle lights at 5p.m, we in Florida still try to park our cars in the shade and thank the Weather Channel when the temperature drops to 80 degrees.

The only thing that keeps me pleasantly content during this time is knowing that it is pumpkin time. What is pumpkin time? It's the season of the pumpkin and that has nothing to do with Charlie Brown.

It's the time of the year when cooking with pumpkin is exceptable, unlike wearing white after Labor Day, and allows people to be creative with the great big pumpkin. Put away your white capri pants and pull out a can of processed pumpkin, or scrap out the real thing, and get baking. If I was Oprah I would have a list of my favorite pumpkin things: Pumpkin Spice Latte (thank you Starbucks), pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pasta with sweat sausage (you would physically attack someone for this dish), and the newly made pumpkin waffles that Matt made this morning. 

Most Americans believe that Christmas is the time for celebration, but in this house, the first week of October until after Thanksgiving is the most wonderful time of the year.