Halloween was a smashing success again this year, with everyone having a great time, although quite a chilly one! And with that holiday done and over with it is time to gear up for the next celebration, which actually begins tomorrow! And I bet you thought that you had until Thanksgiving! That's right tomorrow is the first of November, and kicks off National Adoption Awareness Month.

November is National Adoption Awareness Month, with the seventeenth of November being National Adoption Day. Both National Adoption Awareness Month, and National Adoption Day are set aside each year to bring attention to the thousands of children whom have been adopted, as well as for those who are still waiting for their forever families in foster care.

Every year National Adoption Day is celebrated on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, with last year being the first year that the day was actually celebrated in all fifty states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. More than two hundred and fifty events were held throughout the United States, altogether finalizing more than three thousand adoptions of children from the foster care system, as well as serving as a place for families to celebrate adoption itself.

While the theme for National Adoption Awareness Month this year is adopting teenagers from the foster care system, which you may have guess from the "You don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent" public service announcement series on the television, the month celebrates all adoptions, not just those from foster care.

If you haven't celebrated National Adoption Awareness Month before, or even National Adoption Day, this year is the perfect year to start! You can find a local event to celebrate with others in the adoption community, or you can find your own way to celebrate with just your family, creating new family traditions to enjoy year after year. While last year may have been the year that was celebrated in the most places, we can all make this year the year that was celebrated by the most people, so get out there and celebrate adoption!