Falling for the Fall Season

Are you ready to embrace the Fall season? I am! I love everything Fall from the clothing, to the comfort food, to redecorating the house. Fall epitomizes coziness, comfort, and family to me. The air gets crisp, the food becomes denser, and we gather around the fireplace or wood stove in the evening.

Halloween, one of my favorite holidays, also comes in Fall. I love Halloween. Decorating with spooky spiders and pumkins is always fun. We go full out when October 31st rolls around. Going and picking out the perfect pumpkins to carve is one of the highlights of the season. Of course it has to be the perfect roundness or oblong and have a decent stem for pulling and replacing the top when lighting the candle. We never have just one either, usually we buy at least two and sometimes up to four depending on just how creative we feel.
Experience has taught us that no matter how early we go get our pumpkins; it is not a good idea to carve them until a few days before Halloween. No one wants to light a moldy squishy pumpkin even if it is carved beautifully.

Costumes is also fun, but can be expensive. My kids are grown now but when they were young they always wanted the costume of the season. That is fine if you have one child or an infinite amount of money to splurge, but I had three kids to buy for. Some years we were able to buy ready made costumes from Target or Walmart, but other years we had to be creative with what we had. One thing I learned was to save costumes from year to year. They could be handed down to younger siblings or recreated into other costumes with a little imagination. We also utilized thrift shops for costume designs which got to be so fun as my kids grew older. This became our yearly tradition instead of buying the ready made ones.

Fall also means cooking hearty meals. Our electric roaster and crock pot get a lot more use in the Fall. Football Sunday's mean chili in the crockpot, corn bread from the oven and maybe some chicken wings from the store. We also cook a lot of different stews and I am always scouring recipe sites like allrecipes.com for different ways to slow cook beef or pork. There is nothing like walking into a home with the smells of pumpkin bread and savory stew filling the air. Some great pumpkin recipies are here https://www.pillsbury.com/everyday-eats/desserts/the-great-pumpkin-15-easy-desserts?utm_source=Email_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PBD_10_11_2016&vcode=AQA



Television shows begin their new seasons in September and we have our favorites. I have to say right now CBS seems to be the station we watch the most. Chilly nights are spent with the fireplace crackling or the electric heaters on while snuggling on the sofa. We also watch many movies either on Netflix or DirecTV. I love to watch my Halloween favorites of Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic. We are not big horror fans so we watch the more kid friendly movies, but there are always the gruesome ones playing for those that are not faint of heart. I can watch some of the old black and white horror flicks and enjoy them. Funny how I can watch Psycho, The Birds, Frankenstein, and Dracula now with a sense of mirth when as a child they terrified me.

So, I have let you into my thoughts and feelings on Fall and Halloween, but I would love to hear from you. What do you love about the Fall season and how do you celebrate? I look forward to reading your stories and comments.