Welcome Fall!

Dear Fall,

I am so glad you are almost here!  I know your official start date isn't until Friday of next week (September 23, this year) but I just wanted to give you a little bit of an early warm welcome....I am one of your biggest fans...You are absolutely my favorite time of year and I have anxiously been awaiting your arrival. 

Although, you wouldn't have know it...we have all been a little side-tracked here in the greater DC area...there was this whole earthquake/hurricane/5 days of straight rain-flooding/threat of terrorist attack thing going on, so I kind of got a little distracted..BUT!! I am back and ready to celebrate you in all your glory.

I have the whole thing planned out...I will start making home-made chai this weekend and we will start eating lots of chili, corn bread & apple crisps...the leaves will start to fall soon and kids will jump and play in the big piles.  We will go for long walks down by the river with the dogs (and without the mosquitos!)...I wait until the last possible moment before turning over the garden and we will get the fire pit set up so we can gather around it on a crisp Fall evening..

We'll start leaning more towards long-sleeves and won't wear our flip flops as much...in fact, it will be time to put all that summer stuff away.  We will delight as the leaves turn brilliant colors and hurry home just a little bit quicker as the days get shorter.  Butternut squashes will be much more frequent in our home and the oven will turned on a little bit more often.  We will bake every weekend.

I am especially looking forward to Halloween this year because of all my big haunted house plans that I have swirling in my head (even as write this!!),  Greg's birthday is in October and as for Thanksgiving, we are going home to New Mexico which, of course, will be some kind of wonderful...

But before all of this happens, Dear Fall...before you actually get here, I wanted to greet you with a simple gift of welcome...I made a wreath to hang on our front door to let everyone know how excited I am that you are here...nothing complicated or expensive...just a token of my appreciation for all that you represent: the harvest, giving thanks, the smells and the rituals...

I hope to instill in my kids the same appreciation for this wonderful time of year.

Thanks Fall...I think you are the best!!

lots of love,

Quentin