A Fort Worth Fall, Y’all

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It’s fall! I’m so excited for sweater weather and cute boots! I can’t wait for football season and pumpkin spice everything. I’ve been eagerly anticipating cooler temperatures and pumpkin patch pictures. I am jumping up and down for colorful foliage and leaf-pile jumping.

Wait a minute . . . .

Scratch that. This is north Texas, and even though fall starts astronomically on September 22, and has been in full swing meteorologically for three weeks, our autumn thus far bears no resemblance to the vision every store catologue, seasonal promotion, and window display is trying to sell us.

Lack of crisp autumn air and unnecessary cozy clothes aside, Fort Worth ushers in the season in her own special ways.

The Weather

While we may not yet experience weather that calls for sweaters and those boots you bought on clearance last March, the temperatures are falling.

Why, September in Fort Worth has an average high of only 88 degrees! That’s a nice drop from August’s 96. And my kids LOVE that we can swim through the entire month of September.

Mind you, by the end of the month we will be in the situation where you need one outfit for the morning and a completely different one for the afternoon thanks to a 30-degree difference between highs and lows, but what mom doesn’t love to keep a closet in the back of her minivan anyway?

The Calendar

School has started, and extracurriculars are in full swing. Weekdays are full of practices and homework, and the weekends are packed with kids’ sports that conflict with college football watching. Not to mention that NFL season is here, and Sunday afternoon nap-time productivity has reached a new low.

The upside is that I’m happy to set up my super cool soccer mom chair and sport my college colors while cheering on my children in a soccer game where at any given time a player may become “Wrong-Way Tanner” and score for the other team.

The Patches

This is one fall hallmark where our lack of cool weather has little effect. Pumpkin patch season is right around the corner, and I’m sure many moms have their smocked and coordinating outfits picked out for the pictures that will dominate Instagram and Facebook for a full 30 days.

I’m not a pumpkin patch picture taker myself (although I did recently get Instagram, so who knows what this year will bring?), but we have been known to visit a patch or two and pick out pumpkins to color and decorate with stickers (so much easier than carving) and possibly go on a hayride or pet some farm animals. Make sure those cute outfits are short-sleeved, and bring a blanket for the hayride because sitting on hay in shorts is rather uncomfortable for everyone.

The Colors

Leaves are everything to fall. The changing colors and the eventual “fall” to the ground is kinda the whole point of this season. Around here, we may miss out on some of the breathtaking colors of the northeast, but kids are still excited to spy the odd yellow-leafed tree and jump in piles of fallen leaves, even if they are brown! And of course, who isn’t anxiously awaiting the hours of raking to make those piles?

boy with leaves

The Flavors

As the trendsetter in changing seasons, Starbucks trotted out its tried and true pumpkin spice latte earlier than ever this year — on August 28. So even before the official date of any true fall season occurred, pumpkin spice season was upon us.

While I’m not a coffee drinker myself (#cocacolaforever), I do love the flavors of this season, and I don’t really wait for it to FEEL like fall before I start making things TASTE like fall. Ginger cookies, pumpkin bread, and cranberry EVERYTHING are all autumn staples in my household, and I don’t wait until temperatures drop to whip up a few batches. Lattes may not be my drink of choice, but pumpkin SPICES are kinda my jam.

No matter how you plan to spend this cool (relatively) and colorful (at some point) time of year, take a moment and enjoy the fun and laughter of the season with your family. After all, winter is coming, and we might just get to wear those cute boots after all.

Happy fall, y’all.

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