Tuesday, November 8, 2011

When I was a Child - the Fall Edition

First things first, if you'd like to read about Julia Child night from my aunt's perspective, click over to her blog (yes, my aunt has a blog!  She's hip like that!) and check it out!  She included some fanstastic pictures!!

Remember when I did my summer "When I was a Child" post?  Well, it's time for the fall edition!!

When I was a child...

  • We did not go to an apple orchard - instead we picked apples from the tree in our backyard!  Some years we would have boxes of Haralson apples.  Yum!
  • The meals shifted from light summer fare to the comforting dishes of fall.  My favorite meal was pot roast with squash from our garden.  For dessert, my mom would often make apple crisps, using the apples from our tree!
  • Friday nights were spent watching my brothers play football!  I must confess, I did not pay attention to the game at all.  Instead I socialized and enjoyed the hot cocoa and warm apple cider my mom would keep in the car for us! 
  • Weekends were spent raking the leaves in our yard.  We have a huge yard, so most of the raking was done by our lawn mower, but us kids would help mom and dad rake up the leaves into bags. 
  • We would carve pumpkins and roast the seeds.  Our pumpkins carving was far from sophisticated.  There were alot of triangle eyes and semi-circle mouths.  I see the pumpkins people carve these days and am blown away!
  • As Thanksgiving would approach, the to do list seemed never ending!  We usually hosted my mom's side of the family each year and we would spend the weeks cleaning every single nook and cranny of our home.  I was kind of very snotty about it and whined a lot.  Now that I am an adult and have hosted others in my home, I understand why my mom worked so hard to get the house clean before the guests arrived.
This time I am going to switch it up and share what fall means to me now!

As an adult, fall is...

  • Pumpkin spice latte season!  This is by far my most favorite seasonal drink!  I love buying one each Friday.
  • A time when I consume a heck of a lot of honeycrisp apples!  I eat about one a day, sometimes more.  You all probably know this already, but in case you don't I will tell you once again that Honeycrisp apples were developed here in Minnesota! 
  • Marathon and half-marathon season!  Both of my marathons and 2 of my half-marathons were ran in the fall!  My 3rd marathon will likely be ran next fall.  Fall is the time when all the sweat and hard work from summer training come to fruition - hopefully in the form of a PR!
  • Football season.  I don't watch the game, but I do participate in a league at work where you pick one team each week that you think will win, and you can't pick the same team twice.  I am a competitive person, so this is a fun, competitive outlet for me!
  • Skinny jeans, boots, and cardigans or sweaters!  I love the clothes associated with fall!
  • My favorite season.  I love the cool, crisp temps.  I love the beauty of the changing leaves.  I love the different sunlight that we get during this time of year.  This year we have been blessed with beautiful weather!
What did fall mean to you as a child and what does it mean to you now?
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20 comments:

  1. CharbelleNovember 8, 2011 at 4:33 AM

    Fall here always meant Thanksgiving, once the weather was finally turning cool it meant it was almost time for the holidays.
    I love apples, I have been enjoying them often over these past few weeks!

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  2. abbiNovember 8, 2011 at 6:09 AM

    I love fall, it is the best season. For me, I remember similar things from being a kid - going to pumpkin patches, roasting the pumpkin seeds. I love apples too, one house we lived at had some apple trees as well.

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  3. UnknownNovember 8, 2011 at 6:09 AM

    Al and I were just visiting about fall this weekend. I used to hate fall as a child. I associated it with stress because of the harvest and trucks driving in and out of our yard day and night and corn dryers whining. I just didn't like it. Now, I love it!! In fact, I am not ashamed to admit I hope it is a little colder so we can build fires in the wood burning stove tonight! As long as there is no snow!

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  4. StephanyNovember 8, 2011 at 6:46 AM

    This was fun to read! It's always so different to talk about fall with other people, because fall in Florida is very similar to summer except for slightly cooler temps in the morning and night. When I was a kid, fall meant school starting, Halloween/Thanksgiving, and my dad yelling at the TV while watching football. ;)

    Now, it means the start of the holiday season and yelling at the TV while watching football myself. Hehe.

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  5. Marisa A.November 8, 2011 at 6:49 AM

    Skinny jeans and riding boots is my favorite part of fall too! Also I had no idea about the honeycrisp apple. I"ll have to pick some up while I"m up there this weekend.

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  6. AbbyNovember 8, 2011 at 7:15 AM

    I love this post. Especially the "childhood" portion. I miss squash from the garden. I also miss leaves. We don't get leaves here. Now, some would say that's a good thing -- for you don't have to worry about wet leaves ruining your glass. But...there's nothing cruncy to step on ;)

    I think it's funny that you participate in football weekly picks. But, it makes sense with how competitive you are!

    Fall clothes are awesome! However..I don't own a pair of skinny jeans or boots (but think they are adorable!). But love sweaters!

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  7. missrisNovember 8, 2011 at 7:53 AM

    I'm with you on fall clothes--I think they are so stylish and fun and COMFY! And I absolutely love all the apples. That's so cool you had apple trees in your yard when you were a kid! We had a peach tree in my parent's yard in Texas and it would produce the biggest, juiciest peaches every summer. My mom would make peach pies and they were just amazing. I've never had a peach that was as good as the ones that tree produced. I think I would have been in absolute heaven with an apple tree!

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  8. NoraNovember 8, 2011 at 9:04 AM

    Ah, fall.
    As a kid: Definitely raking leaves. A few extra days off from school. Plotting and planning holiday events with my family. Hot chocolate and fires in our fireplace. Closing the pool (which is done pretty early in the "fall" season in STL). Hoping that we would get early snow and have snow days!

    As an adult: right there with you on the boots/jeans/sweaters combo. This year it's planning Thanksgiving and hosting Knight's family a few days later. Peppermint tea! Lots of baking. Getting cozy under blankets. And of course, dreary weather that makes me want to move to Florida.

    Love this post!

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  9. MarlysNovember 8, 2011 at 9:14 AM

    I smiled as I read Barb's post about fall as a child! It was a stressful time of year on the farm and I detested the corn dryer as it was not far from my bedroom window and the noise kept me awake for hours! Fall is like that for us, too, as we still deal with the farming community! This year things are settling down early as the harvest is complete! I love apples, squash, and detest raking leaves!

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  10. Nilsa @ SoMi SpeaksNovember 8, 2011 at 9:15 AM

    Awww, I love this post. It makes me think of crisp, cool fall days with loads of color on the trees, leaves on the ground, orange, yellow, red. Mmmmm.

    As a child, we didn't go to Jewish high holiday services; instead, we would go apple picking.

    As an adult, fall means recognizing the day Sweets and I met, the day we got married and the day our son was born!

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  11. I'maNolaGirlNovember 8, 2011 at 9:43 AM

    Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. It always meant the end to the brutally hot days of summer and signified the start of the holiday season. FRom Halloween to Mardi Gras, it felt (and still feels) like every day brings excitement. You can feel it in the cool crisp air!

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  12. RaquelitaNovember 8, 2011 at 10:00 AM

    I am a huge fan of autumn. As a kid, fall meant football, raking leaves and then jumping in the piles and then re-raking them, pumpkin pie, and spooky stories around Halloween. As an adult, it means football, boots, pumpkin spice lattes, making gingerbread, and cooking hearty dishes like chili and potato soup.

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  13. AmberNovember 8, 2011 at 10:53 AM

    I love this series you do!

    Well I grew up in the COLD north where we often had snow by mid to end of October at the latest so my falls were very short-lived but they meant: my birthday, starting school again, getting ready for hockey season to start, carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating!

    Now they are a lot of the things you listed, my favourite, cozy clothing (boots and scarves!), yummy warm seasonal drinks and my favourite running weather of the whole year!!

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  14. Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap)November 8, 2011 at 5:32 PM

    Loved reading your aunt's Julia Child night recap- it was fun to see all the people in the pictures, I couldn't tell how many people were there in your pics :)

    When I was younger I loved going back to school so that was a big fall thing for me (yup, nerd alert). Now, it's a bit more of a depressing time for the same reason, especially because kindergartners are tough this time of year and so are their parents :) Overall though I love fall food, and most of the time fall weather so it's one of my favorite seasons- if only I could move the beginning of a school year!

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  15. Lauren @ Sassy MolassyNovember 8, 2011 at 11:49 PM

    Ah I love honeycrisps and fall clothing of course. Awesome that your mom made apple crisp from apples from the yard.

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  16. Jolene - EverydayFoodieNovember 9, 2011 at 7:53 AM

    What a creative post idea!

    When I was a child fall meant "back to school" time. As an adult, fall still means "back to school" time.

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  17. Kyria @ Travel SpotNovember 9, 2011 at 10:20 AM

    I love this series! I did the summer one a while back and I will probably borrow the fall one from you too! I guess I need to get on it! How is is almost winter already?

    Fall of course was all the things you mentioned! Football, apples (we also had our own tree), Holidays, food... Fall was also the start of ski season for us, even though it didn't start until November.

    Now, it's runs and baking and holidays and family. I am also eating an apple a day!

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  18. BeckyNovember 9, 2011 at 1:57 PM

    "There were alot of triangle eyes and semi-circle mouths...." That was my pumpkin carving too! And honeycrisp apples scream fall to me as an adult as well!

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  19. MandyNovember 9, 2011 at 7:25 PM

    I love this post. A lot.

    As a child fall was always apple butter season. As an adult its much of the same.

    This year I am missing wearing fall clothes and fall temps.

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  20. JeanieNovember 10, 2011 at 7:15 AM

    I am SO loving catching up with you. I wish I didn't have to leave for work -- I want to keep reading. Maybe one more...!

    For me, fall is Thanksgiving, beautiful colors and back-to-school!

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