When you first meet someone, one of the first questions people might ask is “what’s your favorite season?” If you were to ask me, I’d tell you I feel a draw to autumn. In part because my birthday falls on the first day of fall and that’s always felt special to me. Also because of the appeal of the leaves on the ground and the smell of the air.
The food is also one of my favorite parts of the season: pumpkin, sweet potatoes, spices and apples. All of these feel like fall to me. These tastes are all so wonderful and nostalgic for me. I remember for my seventh birthday party my friends and I bobbed for apples. Now, whenever I see people bobbing for apples I am filled with fond memories. We got wet from dunking our heads in the water and then, with the apples we’d claimed, we made miniature apple pies.
There’s also, obviously, Halloween in fall. Halloween parties have always been a highlight of my year before COVID caused them to stop. I remember being devastated that year when I realized we couldn’t have one since I always looked forward to them. One year, the party guests did a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood to look for things like black cats and oak leaves. It was a race, and the reward for finding all of the things on the list was sugar cookies in the shapes of pumpkins or leaves, which you could decorate with orange, white or black icing before cramming them into your mouth. On the day of Halloween, we all went out trick or treating, walking in the curbs where leaves had fallen and hearing the satisfying crunches.
Halloween candy is a major thing in all the grocery stores for at least a month in anticipation for the holiday. In my opinion, Twix, Hershey’s and Reese’s are the best. I remember one Halloween I was trick-or-treating with some friends and a woman gave us all king size chocolate bars, and me and my friends were all so excited. That was the best thing that happened to me that Halloween.
Another major holiday, Thanksgiving, might be considered the most thought of fall holiday. I couldn’t talk about autumn without mentioning the day we give thanks. Thanksgiving tends to be celebrated with turkey, cranberry sauce, pomegranate, bread rolls, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Instead of cooking all day and sitting down to a big meal, typically my family and I would go over to the Catholic Church and help serve food before going home and eating rolls, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, which are, in my opinion, the best foods of the holiday. We stopped going to the church to volunteer after COVID once more got in the way and shut things down.
Coffee shops also tend to shift their menu a little bit to offer more fall-oriented things. Pumpkin spice lattes in particular. Though, since Starbucks first added the latte to their menu in 2003, the drink has been a year-round obtainable thing. Although, it’s definitely thought of most around the months of October and November.
Autumn is a time of joy for me. I have such fond memories around this time of year. The weather combined with the food and traditions makes it definitely my favorite season. So next time someone asks you what your favorite time of year is, what are you going to say?
