Fall is coming.

Telltale signs:

1. You can smell it in the air.

2. My non-graduated college friends are all back on campus. (And I tell ya... not being there is a bit strange.)

3. Temperatures are falling. (I left my window open last night and woke up with frozen toesies.)

4. Christmas stuff is available at the Hallmark store.

5. It's almost my birthday. :)

Fall has always been my favorite season. Summer's winding down and the air is crisp, but not cold -- cool enough to need a sweater or light jacket, but not a winter coat. The leaves change color (my favorite thing about fall) and start floating down from the trees. I love the view from my parents' house at the peak of the season, red orange yellow as far as you can see. Fall is apple time, and Johnny Appleseed at home is suddenly overrun with people on the weekends, stopping in for a bushel or two, and probably a gallon of cider. Apple cider. Mmmmm. Hot apple cider and donuts. Halloween. Pumpkins. Piles of leaves just begging to be played in. Life calms down again, routine sets in again after the summer -- somehow everything starts to feel normal. Summer is fun but it's brief, it's an interruption of everyday life, it's temporary, it's not real. Real life sets in again with fall.

Some people think fall is a depressing season. Everything's dying and fading as the world prepares itself for winter -- what's cheerful about that? Fall leads in to winter, that's true, but I love the beginning of winter. The holiday season! :) You start thinking about family gatherings and good food and Christmas shopping. The leaves are gone and the air gets cold, you smell smoke from chimneys when you go for walks. And first snow, tiny flakes in the air that don't quite stick to the ground yet, but you can catch one on your sleeve and see the perfect symmetry before it melts. Candles on windowsills and tiny lights framing roofs and garages, evergreens peeking through living room windows, joyful music playing and bells ringing everywhere you go. Christmas carols, advent wreaths, nativity scenes, and retellings of the Christmas story. Christmas is my favorite holiday by far, and it's the reason why I like the beginning of winter so much. September, October, November, December... probably my four favorite months of the year. Not that it's ALL fun and games, nothing is. But I love the feelings I feel when I think about it. :) Summer's been good but I don't mind its ending. It'll be back next year anyway. :)