Reasons Why I LOVE Fall...

1. Halloween
2. Thanksgiving
3. Fall decorations
4. Fall candles, such as apple spice and pumpkin spice
5. Pumkin Carving
6. Crisp cool mornings with warm afternoons
7. Wearing cute jackets, scarfs, and boots
8 Pumpkin pie and all things pumpkin flavored
9. Drinking hot chocolate on chilly nights
10. Crisp evenings, perfect weather for running

Fall is absolutely my favorite season. I love all the Holidays that happen during Fall. The leaves changing colors is one of the most beautiful aspects of fall. When I lived with my parents I would wake up on fall mornings and see a dusting of frost and sometimes dew on the grass. It is perfect weather for contemplation and self growth. I love grabbing a thick blanket and sitting outside on the deck with a good book, or simply enjoying the wildlife around my parents house. It's the best feeling being all bundled up and warm, with just you nose and ears chilly. I also love fall because it was my mother's favorite season. She lived in Pennsylvania for a few years when she was younger. She told me that the colors of the leaves were vivid shades of red, yellow, and orange. I have never experienced an East Coast fall, but before I die I want to "see the leaves change" some where on the East Coast. We have beautiful trees here that change to fairly bright colors, but I want to drive down that road that you always see in pictures. The road that is nestled between two long rows of trees. The leaves the most pure colors of scarlet, gold, and crisp orange.

Fall is a season full of family traditions. My mom was super into all holidays, but her favorites were Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, Easter, and St. Patrick's Day. She always bought us girls new holiday themed socks or pajama pants for each holiday. Our house was the house of "Holiday Fairies" as my mother would call them. She would get us lip gloss or a little something to got with the socks or pjs. We would wake up and go into the living room and see our gifts the "Holiday Fairy" left us. It may seem like a minimal thing that she did, but as her children we all remember how excited she got for holidays. I hope that I can share that love of family and holidays with my future children. In a world that is so focused on the value of material things, it is important to maintain family values and traditions. My mother may have been a little excessive getting us little trinkets for every holiday, but she made it important because it was a family traditon. She would always remind us after we got our gifts that, we should be grateful for our opportunities. She had such a strong testimony of the gospel and the strength of the family. I hope that I am able to be half as good of a mother as she was. She told us she tried to serve others with the same love she served us, her children.

Fall just reminds me of what we have to be grateful for and how important it is to remember our families. It is a time to be thankful and recognize the role Christ plays in our lives. As someone who lost her mother to soon, I know how important family is. I was reminded again today by the beautiful story of the birth of my friends daughter. Family is forever, and I'm so grateful I know that through my knowledge of the gospel.

No Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace

As I have seen in one Autumnal face.

~John Donne~
Elegy IX--The Autumnal


Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.


~Stanley Horowitz~