I love fall! T-shirts by day, sweatshirts by night, waking up to the crisp, cool air coming through my bedroom windows, the aroma of apples and pumpkins coming from candles placed all over my house, the sounds of crunchy leaves underfoot....what's not to love?
In her book, A Family Raised on Rainbows, Beverly Nye says, "I love the fall season....It's a change of pace. After the carefree outdoor days of summer, I start feeling like the squirrels. Time to get my nest ready for winter and the holidays ahead....I love the smell of bonfires, the crispy apples in the orchards, and as funny as it may seem, the dried cornstalks in the fields. Somehow it gives me the feeling that everything and everybody have done their duty, and all is right with the world."
From the mulled apple cider to the high school football games, from pumpkin patches to the sound of chainsaws cutting wood for future winter nights fires, I just love it all! I enjoy hanging my wash when it's still chilly out and taking it down when the sun has dried it to a crisp (literally). I love pulling out all my pumpkins and fall decorations and transforming my home into a cozy retreat. I love trying my hand at a homemade apple pie or a big batch of applesauce with apples picked fresh from the orchard. So fall, is by far my favorite season of the year!
If you're not as quite enthusiastic about the fall season as I am, here are a few ideas taken from a book I am currently reading, Queen of the Castle.
- Gather seeds from the spent flowers in your garden; bag up and label, to plant in the spring.
- Pull out candles to dine by.
- Serve an all-orange dinner, with the kids devising the menu. Possibilities include orange juice, carrot sticks, grilled cheese, orange-colored pasta with Parmesan cheese, orange Jell-O, orange sherbert.
- Hike with your family on a woodsy trail. Look for big leaves to grace your table.
- If you've carved a pumpkin, sprinkle cinnamon (or nutmeg) on the inside of the lid. When you light the candle, it'll smell like pumpkin pie.
- Make up the beds with flannel sheets so everyone's nice and comfy.
- Buy small, round loaves of bread, one for each family member, and hollow out leaving a thick crust; fill with chili or stew and serve to applause.
- Buy a jug of fresh apple cider from the market.
- Pull out your slippers and curl up on the couch with a blanket, a good book, and a cozy fire.
As the fall season is now upon us, I would also encourage you to take the time to perhaps invite a family or 2 into your home, that you may or may not know well. I know there are some of us who don't enjoy entertaining, and would rather not have the mess in their house, but I am the opposite, and love to entertain, and I can tell you, that you are really missing out on something special if you don't entertain. Hospitality is not about trying to impress or competing to see who's the best housekeeper or the best cook (I can't cook, so there's no use competing here)! It's simply about opening the home GOD has given us, grand or humble, welcoming others into it. And don't feel like the meal has to be something fit for a king! Many times we've bought premade strombolli at the store and baked it at home, getting rave reviews! We've also ordered out for pizza, and yes, even McDonalds has become the meal of choice on certain occassions!
I had started something a few years ago, that I really enjoyed and would like to start back up since fall is upon us. Once a month, we would invite one family over for dinner. This would be a family that we knew, but yet didn't "really know." We chose a family from church, but you could choose someone from your workplace or wherever. The goal was to get to know these families a little bit better, give our kids other kids to play with and get to know, and just to enjoy the fellowship with someone other then family (although there's nothing wrong with that), or really close friends (that you may see day in and day out)! We had a great time doing it and I hope the families that we had over felt the same way! So I would challenge you, invite a couple, or family, someone who may be going through a tough time, or whoever into your home this fall. How many times may you have missed out on a blessing GOD had planned because you refused to open your home or life to others?
Host-and hostessing, as we know, is often a heroic endeavor, requiring daring, ingenuity, a desire to take chances and a concern for others. These traits are also called for in saints and Nobel Prize winners.
-Laurie Colwin
"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." (Hebrews 13:2)
Until next time,
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