Another busy month! While October felt like one of the longest months of the year so far, I think November is on its way to beating it. But before we get wrapped up in the Thanksgiving festivities, it is worth sharing the cool creations Global Traveler’s annual pumpkin carving competition brought this year.

Last week, before the competition started, the headquarters team enjoyed a nice lunch while watching a Halloween classic — Ghostbusters. Right after, we split into two teams of three and one team of four to let the creativity begin.

Between apple cider drinks, Ghostbusters remarks and an afternoon filled with #ghoulbility, as account executive Stephanie Makowski would say, Team One’s spidery pumpkin won the vote this year, just in time to display outside the office for Halloween!

I’m kicking off November in New York City, where the weather is just lovely, but my seasons are confused. As I mentioned in previous blogs, I didn’t grow up celebrating Thanksgiving, hence our Christmas trees were up Nov. 1–Jan. 10. However, for the past six years I can’t seem to wrap my head around the idea of having a tree up before Thanksgiving.

I took an afternoon stroll through Midtown East, cutting through Bryant Park, and, to my surprise, the ice skating rink was already set up and working! There are even a few Christmas shops already — that made the 62-degree weather a bit surreal.

How about you, fellow travelers? When do you put up your tree?

— Yasser Ogando, production & advertising coordinator