Top Ten… Things I Love About Fall

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!

10. Cooler Weather – We live in Georgia, and it is HOT during the summer, often long into September and even October.  So, when that first cool, crisp morning hits, there is just nothing like it!  Highs in the 60’s and 70’s sure beat 100 degrees any day!

 

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.

Little old me just dumping a pile of leaves on my Momma's head at the park

The happiest little fall girl in her element <3

More leaf fights

Aaaand some more

And one last picture of our leaf fight

Me helping Mama Cass rake and box up the pine straw in my little paper crown.  Y'all!

And another picture of me playing in the pine straw

8. Seasonal Movies & Music – I’ve always been a huge movie lover, and I have a very long list of comfort movies that I watch as my “happy background noise.”  Christmas movies will always be my favorite, but fall movies are my second favorite.  A few that I love – You’ve Got Mail, Father of the Bride 1 & 2 (not technically set in the fall, but the music gives aaaallll the fall vibes), Stepmom, and so many more.  And we can’t forget the Halloween movies either – Hocus Pocus, Casper, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, etc.  There’s nothing like snuggling up on the couch with my lovies with a bowl of popcorn and a good movie.  And if you've been around here for any amount of time, you know I couldn't live without music.  Music gives me LIFE and it's one of the most important things to me, so I literally have play lists for every single type of mood, event, memory, etc.  So, naturally, I have a fall play list.  It consists mostly of old standards and any kind of acoustic guitar music... it just makes me feel so cozy and happy!  Aaaand, of course, we have our Halloween play list as well, which is the kids' absolute favorite.

Me with my Daddy playing guitar in the yard on a beautiful fall day

 

One of my favorite pictures of the two of us ever

7.  Bringing Out My Seasonal Decor – Ooooh, nothing makes me happier than snuggling up on the couch when the house is decorated for fall and Christmas!  I go all out for fall – pumpkins, leaves, fall trinkets, and buffalo check all over the house – and I always have twinkle lights on, especially once the days get shorter.  Eventually, we pull out the skeletons and bats and spiders, too, and I’ve grown to love that decor just as much as the fall decor!

 

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!

Top Ten... Favorite Scents
Top Ten... Favorite Shows