Last year, I said I was going to start doing a series of various top ten posts here on the blog, and then I only wrote two, so it’s about time for another one! Since we just officially welcomed fall on the calendar (in my head I welcomed it back at the end of August – LOL), I thought it would be fun to share the top ten things I love about fall!
Working backwards from #10, here we go!
9. Fall Foliage – I know this is so cliché, and SUCH a basic thing to love, but y’all, fall foliage has been my favorite since I was little. I have so many memories of playing in the leaves at the park when I was teeny tiny (and I have the pictures below to prove it!) and also playing in the pine straw, too. (Because when in Georgia... haha.) But seeing vibrant colors of yellows and reds and oranges against a bright blue sunny sky? There’s just nothing like it! And jumping in a big ol' pile of leaves (or pine straw) as a kid – the BEST. I've always been a fall girl at heart.
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| Little old me just dumping a pile of leaves on my Momma's head at the park |
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| The happiest little fall girl in her element <3 |
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| More leaf fights |
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| Aaaand some more |
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| And one last picture of our leaf fight |
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| Me helping Mama Cass rake and box up the pine straw in my little paper crown. Y'all! |
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| And another picture of me playing in the pine straw |
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| Me with my Daddy playing guitar in the yard on a beautiful fall day |
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| One of my favorite pictures of the two of us ever |
6. Celebrating Halloween – We have been doing the same thing for
Halloween for years, and I love our traditions so much. It’s one of my favorite days of the whole
year! Most years, the kids are in school
on Halloween, so we always do Trunk or Treat at their school that morning. The high schoolers all decorate their cars in
different themes, and they hand out candy to the younger kids. Then, while the kids are at school, I spend
the day prepping for the evening ahead. That
evening, we have our spooky Halloween dinner – mummy dogs, Cheetos Bag of
Bones, candy corn fruit skewers, and various other “creepy” foods for dinner,
and then the kids get into their costumes.
The grandparents usually join for this (and sometimes the kids’ friends,
too), and we walk our neighborhood for a couple of hours collecting candy. Our neighborhood is the quintessential
neighborhood for trick-or-treating as our neighbors go all out, decorating
their houses, putting up haunted houses, handing out full-sized candy bars, and
some even hand out beer and/or Jello shots for the adults. Haha. People
actually come from all over the city to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood so
it’s always extra festive and PACKED. After
that, we head home, the kids shed their costumes, and then they sort and trade
their candy while we end the night with our annual viewing of It’s the Great
Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. We have watched
that literally every single Halloween night since Jacob was born.
5. Celebrating Thanksgiving – Thanksgiving is my second favorite
holiday (second to Christmas) and I love that entire weekend! There’s just something about celebrating that
holiday and knowing that we’re about to enter the best season of all –
Christmas! – that almost makes me like Thanksgiving better than Christmas. It’s the anticipation, I guess. Thanksgiving morning, we always make homemade
waffles and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade followed by the dog show,
and it’s usually a lazy day doing fall puzzles, snuggling on the couch, and
coloring or doing festive crafts. Then,
later in the afternoon, I start cooking whatever dish we’re bringing to my
family’s celebration (almost always this hot pineapple casserole). We all get ready and then meet at my aunt and
uncle’s house in the early evening, and the majority of my mom’s extended
family is there… there are now, like, 45 of us I think?? We spend the whole evening there, and then we
still have three full days off to look forward to when we get home that
night. On Friday, we usually celebrate
with my father-in-law with takeout from somewhere. We used to have a different tradition to go
to the country club with him on Thanksgiving Day, but we stopped that during
Covid, and I miss it! Then, Saturday morning,
we always have our North Pole breakfast with our elf, and then we celebrate Thanksgiving
a third time on Saturday afternoon with my MIL and step-FIL. They always make a massive spread of food,
and we stuff ourselves silly, and then head home to watch college football for
the rest of the day. It’s truly one of
my favorite weekends of the whole year!
4. All the Pumpkin Flavored Things – Pumpkin muffins, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin bread, pumpkin
pie, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin pie Blizzards… I will take
it all! I have loved pumpkin since I was
a little girl!! It’s one of my favorite
flavors and one of my favorite scents!
3. Being
Cozy – Cozy is one of
my favorite words. I love to be
cozy. Even during the summer, I like to
have the air down low so I can be cold in the house and then wrap up in a
blanket. Give me all the sweaters, scarves,
boots, fuzzy socks, snuggly blankets, twinkle lights, cozy scents in my
diffuser (pumpkin spice and cinnamon!), fires in fireplace, fall puzzles, and
anything else that sets a cozy tone.
2. College Football, Baby!!!! – We are diehard Georgia Bulldogs fans,
and we are college football obsessed as any good southerner should be. ;o) We
literally plan our schedules around college football on Saturdays, and most
Saturdays during college football we don’t even leave the house. We pretty much have college football on from
9 AM (ESPN College GameDay!) until 11 PM when we got to bed on Saturdays. And some Saturdays, we attend games in person
since we have season tickets, and those are the best Saturdays ever! We love to drive to Athens and tailgate with
family and friends, and then cheer on our Dawgs in the stadium! If you want to know just how diehard we are,
you can see this post from a couple of years ago. I had the most fun putting it together because
– aaaallll the throwback photos!
1. Knowing That Christmas is Right Around the
Corner!!!! – It’s truly
the most wonderful time of the year, and the anticipation during the fall
leading up to the Christmas season is my favorite! I am positively giddy every year when
Christmas music starts on the radio (usually around November 1 here), and I will
never tire of doing all the festive Christmas things. Christmas Eve has been my favorite day of the
year for my entire life, and I just don’t think that will ever change.
And that’s my
top ten!!
This was fun!! What are some of your favorite things about fall?
And if you want to see my previous Top Ten lists, click the links below!
Love your list and I LOVE seeing all these old photos of you!
ReplyDeleteThank you! It was fun looking back at all of the old photos.
DeleteWhat a fun list! Olivia looks so much like you when you were younger! I love the cooler temperatures, fall colors, decor, soups and cozy smells of pumpkin candles.
ReplyDeleteYes she does! We are almost twins, especially when she was that age. And yes to all of those things!
DeleteI have old pictures of me playing in leaf piles too!
ReplyDeleteI love that! So fun!
DeleteI love this time of year! I like the cooler weather too but not all the rain that we've been having.
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely photos of you playing in the leaves. Such a lovely memory.
Yes, the rain can definitely put a damper on things. Sometimes it makes things cozier, too, though. I guess it depends on what kind of mood you're in and what you're craving at the time!
DeleteThose photos are so special. It's amazing how much Olivia resembles you.
ReplyDeleteShe really does! When she was younger, sometimes I would look at her and feel like I was staring at a picture of myself. It's a little crazy!
DeleteThank you! SO much good stuff!
ReplyDeleteI honestly thought you were Olivia in those pictures...lookalikes. I loved this round up of fall faves!
ReplyDeleteWe sure are! Thank you!
Delete