You can do whatever floats your boat and blows your hair back with them ;-)

They will turn into compost no matter what you do the only question is how long will it take.

My personal preference is to let plants fertilize the area they grow in. This means I mulch mow the lawn, mulch mow the leaves that fall and while I do have a worm bin and outdoor compost pile I leave most of my plants to rot in place.

Now, some folks have many trees and they drop too many leaves to mulch mow onto the lawn. I envy them. In this case mulch mow them with a bag attachment or catcher on the mower and dump them onto gardens as a winter mulch which will feed the soil over time. Whole leaves mat together and aren't good, but mulched/chopped leaves are terrific.

If you are taking plant materials from one area and moving them to another area it is my opinion you are working too hard. The exception is when you have a new property not producing much organic matter and you move plant material from *other people's yards* into your own.

I am still composting and will be doing so throughout the winter as I have for the last two years. Mind you, I keep a hot compost going, so things keep breaking down.

But even if the compost weren't hot, I would still be adding. We both live on the eastern seaboard where temperatures don't really get fiercely cold until after the holidays, so it would be a while until the pile actually freezes. My cool piles last year didn't start freezing hard until mid-January... These are pallet piles which I cover with thick burlap.

The microherd is still in the cozy parts of the piles and stays there for some time, and even the freeze and thaw action we get throughout the winter contibutes to the breakdown. By the time you will start using the compost in the spring, the worms will have been at it for a while too.

So It's really up to you. You can keep adding, or just place in bags and set aside for spring.

If we have a warm or wet winter the organisms will work even in the winter.

I have a very large hillside with poor rocky soil. I have been taking my neighbors leaves and putting them down my hill. They will take quite a bit of time to break down but the area is impossible to use as it is. It is about a 70 degree drop with eroding sandy/rocky soil left by the glaciers.
I can't afford to fill it and put in retaining walls. So my plan is to just put tons or organic matter on it and get the organisms working to my advantage.

As the temperatures in Massachusetts drop the activity in your compost pile may slow down, depending on the volume and moisture level. Adding your yard waste may slow that activity but since now is the time of year when the most material is most readily available this is when the rest of us build most of our compost piles.
If you choose to pick up the leaves, etc. this is a good time to put it onto the compost pile.