shades of fall

I love this time of year - I don't particularly love cold weather, but I don't mind the cooler temperatures and the excuse to wear my winter wardrobe. I love the onset of the holidays. It is such a nice time of year - it seems people are happier and friendlier. Neighbors and strangers seem to reach out more. I love the first snow and my children's excitement when they wake up to it. I love dressing up for Halloween and gathering together for Thanksgiving; I love pumpkin pie! I used to love Christmas until I started feeling guilty about only getting my children a couple of gifts - I hate the idea of going overboard so I really hold back each year. I do love Christmas and singing the carols; I really love singing the carols and listening to the Christmas music (except "Raindrops on Roses" from Sound of Music - when did that become a Christmas song?). I love this time of year.

Do you want to hear a cheesy story? It snowed Saturday night and my kids woke up and came running into our room Sunday morning to tell us. Of course they wanted to go out and play in it immediately. We got them all dressed in their snow gear and let them go out. I felt such warmth in my soul as I watched the three of them play in the snow. I started to cry - I was so happy that we lived here and that my children were making such happy memories. Say what you will about Utah, but I have been so happy with the idea of planting roots here. My kids are happy and I love where we are. All of those feeling of gratitude came streaming through my body at once and I all I could do was cry (you need to understand that crying for me is like two tears - I just don't have the ability to cry anymore - someday maybe the floodgates will open again, but for now all I get is a trickle).

So, I have been decorating for this, my favorite time of year (other than the Fourth of July). I have far more Fall and Christmas decorations than any other and I look forward all year to the makeover my house gets every October 1st. Here is a taste of what Fall looks like at my house....

This is my favorite shade of Fall.