Excuse me, but has anyone seen November? I know I’m dating myself, but I do seem to recall a time when it came right after October. Now, of course, December starts before Halloween.

I realize that, to many people, November’s not good for much. The World Series is over, and the Superbowl won’t trot around again until next year. The days are growing shorter; the nights longer. In many places, fall foliage has passed peak and real snow hasn’t arrived. Looking around, we see mostly shades of gray and brown.

Of course, some people do have November birthdays. That’s important, especially to them. And near the end of the month, we get a brief holiday. Some still call it Thanksgiving. But a more appropriate name might be Eating Too Much and Watching Football. The grocers, turkey suppliers, and football franchises are about the only ones who make a profit from it.

Except that the extra time off provides us a grand opportunity – for early Christmas shopping. It is hoped, of course, that we’ll set our minds on December shopping long before this brief, but strategically timed, November holiday. It is hoped that, from the minute we turn off the porch light on October 31, we’ll spend every waking moment planning and making purchases to put under someone’s tree.

One year, the day my calendar said November 1, we received no less than five Christmas catalogs in our mail. And that was just the beginning. From Christmas displays to “pre-holiday sales” to preparations for Christmas musicals, everything except my calendar shouted, “December!”

Three days after the catalogs arrived, my then elementary-age daughter remarked, “This year’s gone so fast.”

“We still have two months,” I reminded her.

“It doesn’t seem like it,” she said. With November just beginning, even children seem to feel, not only that December’s already arrived, but that it’s practically over.

Now don’t get me wrong. I like December. I enjoy Christmas. But, call me quirky, I think we ought to leave room for November, too. Yes, it’s brown and gray. Yes, it’s practically profitless. But that’s okay. We don’t have to dress this month in a Santa costume in order for it to have value.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Verse 11 says God “has made everything beautiful in its time.”

In November, grown-ups can rake leaves, and children can scatter them. Friends can sit together, savoring a good conversation; a hot cup of coffee, tea or cider and maybe even a warm fire. A person can throw on a jacket and take a brisk walk, or find a cozy chair and travel by book wherever her heart desires.

In November, we can pause to count our blessings and give heartfelt thanks for them. We can work and play, laugh and cry. We can reflect on life and eternity. We can make the most of the time – or hurry past it.

Most likely, none of us would choose brown and gray all year long. But if we don’t stop to appreciate what God has made beautiful in this time, we may get all our presents and miss all our moments.

Adapted from Snapshot 61 in Focused Living in a Frazzled World, by Deborah Brunt, © 2005. The original version was published as a “Perspective” column, 11/8/1996.