Flying into piles of leaves, crunching along a wooded trail, collecting rainbow-colored leaves, bundling up on a crisp afternoon to watch a neighborhood football game: it’s Autumn! Unless you happen to live in Florida.
After spending the Autumn of my youth roaming between Virginia and Vermont, moving to Florida and watching the fall equinox arrive to 80 degree temperatures and pass without a chill in the air or a colored leaf on a tree was hard. My Mom, who still lived in the north-east, tried to provide a bit of fall-festivity for our southern home by shipping us envelopes of dried leaves and bags of candy corn, but it just wasn’t enough; it just didn’t seem like Fall. And so one year, we decided to bring a bit of Autumn to Florida, whether or not the weather cooperated with cooler temperatures!
We invited a few of our favorite southern friends: both some displaced-northerners (like ourselves, longing for a true Autumn) and native Floridians (wondering what all the fuss was about). We planned a menu of simple traditional Fall foods, and we brainstormed a host of crafts and games for the kids.
The night was a HUGE success! It was such a success that it instantly became a yearly tradition. The adults enjoyed chili (super easy to get started in the crock pot ahead of time), cornbread, hot apple cider, and an evening of conversation, laughter, and reminiscing about the Fall celebrations of their youth. The children created spin art pumpkins and woven spider webs, bobbed for apples, freed doughnuts from strings, and participated in the highlight of the evening: a hay fight (just cut open a bale of hay and let them at it)!
That first year, the kids painted pumpkins. In years since, we’ve switched to scarecrow making, which promises less mess and the hay isn’t left on the ground after the hay-fight for post-party clean-up. We ask each family to bring an old shirt and pants for their scarecrow, and we supply the queen-sized knee high for the head and the twine to tie off the arms, legs, and head.
Whether you live in a locale with traditional Fall weather or someplace that is warm year-round; whether you celebrate Halloween or choose to sit the candy-loaded holiday out, a celebration of autumn, family, the harvest, and the gifts we have been given by our Lord through the seasons is sure to add up to time well-spent and memories well-constructed.
After an unusually hot summer, Jennifer is anxiously awaiting the cooler days of fall and all that entails at her new home in Virginia: colored leaves, crisp air, juicy apples, and hay fights! When not out in the brisk Autumn air, Jennifer can be found blogging about home and family at Adventures in McQuill-land. Join her on Mondays for Making Memories Monday.
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OH, what a WONDERFUL Idea!! we don’t celebrate Halloween and I have been looking for ways to celebrate fall for our family and friends. This is perfect! Thank you again.
Aria,
Growing3godlygirlz@blogspot.com
I love this post! I’m a Florida girl born and raised and so desire to experience a true fall. These were great ideas!
Jennifer´s last [type] ..Homeschool Days
Terrific ideas!! What a great way to celebrate the fall–cooler weather or not! :)
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