Michael’s favorite book has been The Very Hungry Caterpillar ever since his eyes could focus on a page, so I knew we needed to incorporate it into his Halloween costume somehow.

A few months ago, my sister sent me something (Reel? TikTok? Who knows anymore? *grumbles in millennial*). It showed a baby in a Very Hungry Caterpillar costume, with all of his family members wearing shirts from the different days of the week and the fruits from the book.

We decided to do something similar: we got themed shirts for every adult (me, Jake, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Aunt!) to go along with his Very Hungry Caterpillar. As you can see in the photo above, I’m Wednesday and Jake was Saturday.

Our first stop was at the Grand House. Unfortunately, due to my grandmother’s health and timing issues, we weren’t able to get a picture all together of us wearing the t-shirts on Halloween. But we will get one later this week, and I’ll be sure to post it at a later date.

We drove to some dear friends’ houses and stopped by to say hello and trick or treat as a family. It was so much fun seeing the small crowds of children in their colorful costumes traipsing up and down the sidewalks. It reminded me of all the fun times I had on Halloween.

Our candy haul was minimal, but we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

The day after Halloween it was delightfully gloomy. The skies gave us some much needed rain, and I made banana-pumpkin bread to warm up the house and help keep Michael occupied.

We also seeded a pomegranate to garnish tonight’s dinner. I was reminded of CS Lewis’ book The Silver Chair. It briefly mentions a magical land deep underground in Narnia called Bism, where gnomes and salamanders dwell and they eat living gemstones. Every time I eat a pomegranate, I think of Bism: I’m sure a pomegranate aril looks a lot like those living gemstones.

November is quite possibly my favorite month of the year. I have so many delightful things associated with it. For starters, it’s the first day of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which is something I have been participating in since 2011.

For NaNoWriMo, you write 50,000 words in one month, which is approximately 1600 words a day. While I haven’t hit the 50,000 word count every year, I’ve still participated and cheered on other writers.

I encourage every aspiring author to try it out at least once. As a young writer it helped me develop a habit of writing daily, and writing through the rough patches, and writing even when I didn’t quite feel like it. I also have wonderful memories of staying up on Halloween with a big bowl of candy from trick-or-treating and starting a new story as the clock struck midnight. The sense of camaraderie with other writers all over the world is something that’s stuck with me to this day.

November also reminds me of one of my favorite books, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. When November rolls around, that first line runs through my head: It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.

If you haven’t read it, I heartily recommend it as your November read. It’s a story about mythical water horses that takes place on an island very similar to Ireland. It’s beautiful and haunting and magical and fun (and not as scary as it sounds, trust me).

I’m always looking for more autumnal books, so if you have any recommendations, please let me know! It’s the perfect month to reevaluate my to-be-read pile, and bake bread, and listen to Joan Shelley and the Oh Hellos, and knit cardigans and sweaters, and enjoy the sound of rain on the windows. Happy November!