Our heater came on this morning. We usually keep it down as low as it can go until the cold weather sets in, and this morning the heater came on anyhow. That means that it got down to below 55 in the house. 55 is about the lowest our thermostat will go. The heat coming on woke me up, so I got up and turned the thermostat all the way off. I can't afford to be paying those winter gas bills this early. That is what sweatshirts are for anyhow.
In spite of the cooling weather fall is one of my favorite times of year. At least its one of my favorite times of year during the day. I like the crispness in the air, the beautiful colors as leaves change, and drinking apple cider. I love the way my thoughts turn towards the holidays and the family times we can look forward to having. For our family, fall is the time of year that we see the most of our extended families. We have the annual Pumpkin Carving Party at my Sister's house, Thanksgiving with whoever's turn it is that year, and the annual girl's day where the Sisters, my Mother, and my Aunt and my Nieces get together to make Christmas cards and enjoy each other's company. All of this leads into the Christmas celebration, which is technically in the winter by a few days, but which I spend most of fall preparing for or at least thinking about. Fall is also the beginning of hot cocoa and hot apple cider season. Its a season for enjoying pretty drives to look at the changing colors, and hikes where you stay warm from exertion, but never get too hot.
Fall does have one major drawback for me. It gets dark too early. It will be even worse when the clocks get set back this weekend. Where we live it will be heading for sunset as early as 4:30 p.m. and on the shortest day of the year it will only be daylight for 8 hours and 42 minutes. This is in comparison to 15 hours and 41 minutes on the longest day of the year. I like daylight. It means less electricity being used, it means more warmth, and it means less depression for me. The only good thing to me about it getting dark earlier is that the kids don't argue about bed time like they do in the summer. Summertime always brings arguments about it not being dark yet when its time for bed. (Of course, if we just did away with daylight savings, it would get dark an hour earlier in the summer, and we could avoid this problem.)
Here in western Oregon, the extra hours of darkness also combine with a rainy season to make it pretty dreary out in general. I have always struggled with a bit of depression in the fall, even while I excitedly go about planning my Christmas and other holiday celebrations.
This year I am going to try to keep my focus on the fun times we can have as a family, and not pay as much attention to how early it is getting dark. Wish me luck!
In spite of the cooling weather fall is one of my favorite times of year. At least its one of my favorite times of year during the day. I like the crispness in the air, the beautiful colors as leaves change, and drinking apple cider. I love the way my thoughts turn towards the holidays and the family times we can look forward to having. For our family, fall is the time of year that we see the most of our extended families. We have the annual Pumpkin Carving Party at my Sister's house, Thanksgiving with whoever's turn it is that year, and the annual girl's day where the Sisters, my Mother, and my Aunt and my Nieces get together to make Christmas cards and enjoy each other's company. All of this leads into the Christmas celebration, which is technically in the winter by a few days, but which I spend most of fall preparing for or at least thinking about. Fall is also the beginning of hot cocoa and hot apple cider season. Its a season for enjoying pretty drives to look at the changing colors, and hikes where you stay warm from exertion, but never get too hot.
Fall does have one major drawback for me. It gets dark too early. It will be even worse when the clocks get set back this weekend. Where we live it will be heading for sunset as early as 4:30 p.m. and on the shortest day of the year it will only be daylight for 8 hours and 42 minutes. This is in comparison to 15 hours and 41 minutes on the longest day of the year. I like daylight. It means less electricity being used, it means more warmth, and it means less depression for me. The only good thing to me about it getting dark earlier is that the kids don't argue about bed time like they do in the summer. Summertime always brings arguments about it not being dark yet when its time for bed. (Of course, if we just did away with daylight savings, it would get dark an hour earlier in the summer, and we could avoid this problem.)
Here in western Oregon, the extra hours of darkness also combine with a rainy season to make it pretty dreary out in general. I have always struggled with a bit of depression in the fall, even while I excitedly go about planning my Christmas and other holiday celebrations.
This year I am going to try to keep my focus on the fun times we can have as a family, and not pay as much attention to how early it is getting dark. Wish me luck!
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