I Forgot to Take My Own Advice.

Monday was Halloween.

In The Happiness Project, I write about celebrating “holiday breakfasts” — when, for minor holidays, I make breakfast fun for my family by putting holiday decorations on the table and using theme colors (I dye the peanut butter black, dye the milk green, etc.). I keep it simple, so it doesn’t become a stressful obligation.

In the most recent episode of the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast, my sister Elizabeth and I talked about the fun of holiday breakfasts, and I described my Halloween traditions.

One of the main themes of my happiness project is memory. Time is passing so quickly; I worry that I won’t remember this time of life, what it’s like to have children this age. My shorthand for this worry is The days are long, but the years are short (of everything I’ve ever written, my one-minute video, The Years Are Short, is the thing that resonates most with people).

Celebrating minor holidays is one way to make time stand out. Because this day was unusual, it’s more memorable.

Another theme of my happiness project is light-heartedness. Instead of marching around checking things off my to-do list all the time, I want to take time for silliness, for fun, for adventures.

Holiday breakfasts are fun, make time special, and are manageable.

But here’s the thing. I know all this — and yet Monday morning, I completely forgot to celebrate the holiday breakfast! That morning, I realized that it was Halloween, but it never once occurred to me to set up the decorations.

After all that discussion — I just forgot.

I realized by mid-day, when my daughters were already at school, so I set everything up later. But I’m still kicking myself. Breakfast is more fun than dinner! Sheesh.

But oh well. When Valentine’s Day rolls around, I bet I won’t forget again. And I still took photos, and we got to enjoy the skeleton plates and pumpkin heads.

As you can see in the photo, our dog Barnaby was very intrigued by the holiday breakfast dinner decorations.

After the podcast episode, many people sent me photos of their holiday breakfasts, and I’ve loved seeing them (plus I’m planning to steal some of the ideas).

Do you celebrate holiday breakfasts? Or do you do something similar to make time special — in a manageable way?

Have you ever forgotten to do something, even after you talked and talked about the fact that you were going to do it? Sheesh.

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Gretchen Rubin is the author of the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home. She writes about happiness and habit-formation at gretchenrubin.com. Follow her here by clicking the yellow FOLLOW button, on Twitter, @gretchenrubin, on Facebook, facebook.com/ GretchenRubin. Or listen to her popular podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin.