From a new banner here at the blog to a new wreath on our front door at home, we're beginning to celebrate autumn and all its blazing beauty. I can't wait for the leaves to start changing and for hot apple cider and for putting together the girls' Halloween costumes (on deck this year: one princess, one vampire bat). Maybe it's because I have an early-fall birthday, or maybe just because, like spring, fall is so fleetingly and extravagantly beautiful, but I am definitely a fan.
Around our home, we've changed the seasonal mobile in the kitchen by switching out the little flowers we had up all summer for some pretty fabric leaves.
Then with more fabric leaves, I made a fall wreath for the front door. I picked up a plain twig wreath at Michael's (I think it's called a grapevine wreath?...), and on the same trip bought a garland of fake fall leaves. I cut the garland apart, leaving the leaves in groups of two or three so that I could easily thread them between the twigs of the wreath - much easier to get these to stay than if I had used single leaves like the ones in the mobile. Then I decorated with a big bow made with leaf-patterned ribbon, and looked through my craft supplies for other little bits and bobs to tuck in and wind around, like the owl ribbon and red beads. I love that you don't really notice these little touches until you get up close, like treasures scavanged by a bird for its nest.
And, in our house, autumn means pomegranates! My girls and I go crazy for the tangy, ruby seeds, and removing them from the fruit's outer peel and inner pith underwater (much easier and cleaner) is actually part of the fun. It's a whole fabulous sensory experience for the girls, and the rewards for their labor - both culinary and visual - are more than worth the time spent.
I've done other seasonal home updates here before, most recently: summer and winter/holiday. Lately my belief in the importance of these yearly traditions has been re-energized by The Rhythm of Family: Discovering a Sense of Wonder through the Seasons, a lovely new book by one of my favorite bloggers, Amanda Soule, along with her husband Stephen. I highly recommend it.
Happy Autumn!
