Season specific activities, decorations, and foods ground me and connect me in a deeper way with nature and my surrounds. Because they teach the children to live by the natural rhythm of the seasons I truly appreciate that we have four distinct seasons here in the northeast. Fall is my favorite. October is so beautiful and I like the crisper temperatures. In general, I love the many distinct fall activities and festivities, from back-to-school after the long and hot and lazy summer, to pulling out my sweaters and our thick down comforters, to apple picking and fall foliage, the last barbeque of the year, Halloween with its pumpkins and gourds, the first fire of the season in the fireplace, and then, when it becomes blustery out there, Thanksgiving, which leads directly into the sparkly year-end holidays.