To many people, the start of fall is an unpleasant time. It’s getting cold and winter’s on its way. But I just love it – and I think the girls do, too.
Sure it’s getting cold. But to balance that out, we get the end of Daylight Savings Time (and that extra hour of sleep all parents need!). And how about all those holidays! Rosh Hashanah, Eid Al-Fitr, Halloween, Diwali and Thanksgiving usher in early winter holidays of Hannukah, Christmas and New Year’s. It’s a smorgasbord of fun (notice I use a food word to describe it). It’s as if someone plotted all those good times to keep us from noticing the plummeting temperatures.
But I’m not fooled by all that celebrating. I know winter is coming (that’s why I have to eat so much – to put on my "warm protective layer"). But fall is such a gorgeous time. My girls never pass a leaf that they don’t want to rake up with other leaves and make a pile to jump into. And now that I have to walk a dog every day and can’t hide from the weather, I’m loving walking through the leaves and finding myself in the midst of multi-colored leaf maelstrom. Even on a recent day with winds up to 50 mph, nature was so gloriously impressive, even a little dangerous, that I felt awed and humbled by it (though dragging the dog through the thousands of leaves he wanted to chase was challenging).
But I’m wondering if one of the reasons we like fall is because it really seems to bring us together as a family. After a long summer when the kids spend hours outside and it’s too hot to sit close together in the house, now the girls need to wear their soft, warm coats, their cute mittens and use the fluffy down bedspreads. We can fire up the fireplace, finally, too.
It’s all so warm and cozy!
Starting in October, I’m never surprised to wake up to one of my daughters who has deserted her own bed and come to our bed to snuggle up against us for extra warmth.
So I know that by February, we’ll long for the days when we can go outdoors in shorts and flip flops, not worrying about a jacket. But now, so early in the colder months, it’s nice to snuggle up in my trusty winter coat and gloves, grab hold of the girls’ be-mittened hands and brave a walk out into the blustery, crisp days of autumn.
