Fall Bucket List
Today is the first official day of FALL! It’s a time when hopefully the air starts to cool, the leaves may begin to change, and pumpkin spice is everywhere. It is the one time of year the store shelves are full of pumpkin-spiced-scented candles and the pumpkin/fall décor is lining the aisles. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. When the season hits, I tend to make a list of what all I want to try and do this fall. Starting with… I love having football on the tv and homemade chili simmering on the stove while curled up on the couch under my cozy blanket. It brings me back to some of my favorite childhood memories and always gives me that warm homey feeling. What gives you that childhood warm homey feeling? Is it baking chocolate chip cookies or making a hot bubbling apple pie with a family member and then cooling it down with the cold vanilla ice cream? Or is it getting to pick out a caramel-covered apple and wash it down with hot apple cider at a Fall Festival?
When we lived in Indiana many years ago, we only had two of our three kids at the time (the third one wasn’t born yet), we would have a family day and take them to one of our local farms that put on a Harvest Festival every year. The kids would have so much fun laughing and running around playing the different games they had set up, winning treats to take home (actually they never made it home because they would eat them there), attempting the different mazes they put together, and then finishing up with the hayride that takes you to the pumpkin patch where you get to pick out your perfect pumpkin to take home and carve with your family in preps for Halloween. Before we would take the kids out to trick or treat, we would light up their little pumpkins that were on the porch and the joy and excitement on their faces will be one I will never forget.
Family memories are amazing to make, and I will forever be grateful to the people who put on these festivals every year for families to enjoy. This is one reason why I love to get involved with our church’s annual Fall Festival every year. Becoming a part of something for not only my church family but all our families out in the community brings so much joy and happiness. Knowing that I have become a small piece in helping make memories for these children and their families that they will hold onto for a lifetime is such a blessing. Our fall festival takes a lot of pieces to put together and organize each year. I am blessed that God has put together such an amazing crew to work with and we still need more pieces to make it amazing. What’s on your fall bucket list this year? Would you like to be a part of making family memories that they hold onto for years to come? If so, please feel free to contact the church office so we can get you added to our crew! Now time for me to start planning the theme for my trunk this year to pass out candy to the smiling faces.
Jen Neely is our Preschool Assistant Director. She enjoys cooking, being artsy, and raising her three amazing children.