How many autumn colors have you collected visually this month? Have you spotted vermillion, amber, burnt orange, saffron, goldenrod, carmine, scarlet, and crimson? If you’ve not checked off these fall colors and more, your autumn radar needs new batteries. Don’t miss the beauty of the season; be watchful and capture ever splendid color before the last leaf tumbles to the ground in anticipation of winter. Celebrate the season with some of these zany, but real, holidays below with the ones you cherish dearly.
➤ World Kindness Week – If there’s anything this world needs right now, it’s more kindness. Do your part to spread kindness this month and beyond. Let your kindness trickle into the world with the intention of joining others’ kind acts, eventually turning into a flood of goodness for a world in need. Being careful not to turn the acts into prideful ones, see how many kind deeds your family can log in for the rest of the month. Keep a running , written list or share the deeds each night at the dinner table. Adults, try some of these ideas, get creative with others, and encourage kids in the family to do similar acts of kindness at school or home. Hold open doors for busy shoppers entering the store. Make eye contact, smile, and say good morning or afternoon to passers-by. Give up your spot in the cashier line for a frazzled mom with little ones in tow. Give up an entitlement attitude and stop deliberately running redlights just because your appointment is more important than others’ schedules. (Did that sound like a pet peeve? Trust me; it is.) Speak kindly to coworkers. Pay for the person in line behind you at the drive through window. Encourage someone with verbal or written words. In other words … be nice. It’s usually free or inexpensive, often brings great emotional rewards to the giver and receiver, and it’s the right thing to do.
➤ National Game and Puzzle Week – Start a jigsaw puzzle with plans for the family to complete it over the next several weeks. Put in a few pieces each night, and while you’re piecing together the puzzle, share aloud the treasures you’re thankful for. Share tangible possessions, special memories, attributes of family members, accomplishments or goals met, thoughtful and kind acts of others, and anything that brings a feeling of gratitude to you.
➤ Fountain Pen Day – Some of us like to collect pens. (Did that sound like a confession? Trust me; it is.) Find unique ways to enjoy this writing apparatus during the month of November. One night soon, locate all the pens you can find in your house and place on the kitchen table. Supply sheets of white drawing paper, too. Gather around the table as a family and create pen-and-ink masterpieces. Or, decide to spend an evening writing letters to family members or friends using pens. These can be letters you plan to mail or notes for immediate family members that you can give out at the end of the evening or plan to hide in the home for family members to find later. And one final idea: tear off small pieces of aluminum foil and crumple into a small ball. Play an adapted version of shuffle board on top of the table using just pens to “flick” the aluminum foil balls from one end of the table to the other, trying not to send the ball off the table’s edge. Now get creative and see what else you can do with a pen. Who knows? The activities might entice you to become a keptopeniac like this author who prefers a computer and has no need for the plethora of pens in her house.
➤ National Split Pea Soup Week – Work together in the kitchen to prepare this hearty meal for a cool evening. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot. Over medium-high heat, sauté one and one-half cups chopped yellow onion and one and one-fourth cups chopped celery for three minutes. Add one teaspoon minced garlic and sauté one more minute. Add four cups of chicken broth and four cups of water. Add one sixteen ounce bag of rinsed, dried split peas. Also add one-half teaspoon dried thyme. Season sparingly with salt and pepper. Carefully add a one and one-half pound meaty ham bone to the pot and press it into the mixture until submerged. Cover and simmer for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove ham bone from soup. Add one cup chopped carrots to soup pot and two peeled and diced yellow potatoes. Continue simmering for another thirty minutes. During additional simmering time, remove ham from cooled bone and shred. Add ham just before soup is finished cooking and serve warm.
➤ National Play Outside Day – Don’t let the early evening darkness keep you from enjoying the outdoors. Find plenty of time to get outside with the family and enjoy activities in the evenings or weekends. Play soccer in the back yard. Blow bubbles in the front yard. Fly paper airplanes and nerf ones, too. Throw balls of all sorts and sizes and play catch. Pull out hula hoops and jump ropes. Draw hopscotch squares on the sidewalk. Create works of art with chalk on the driveway. Visit the playgrounds and parks throughout the county. Run races, skip, hop, and create an obstacle course for the family to tackle. Play tag, hide and seek, and baseball. Toss Frisbees, discs, or plastic, disposable container lids. Enjoy outside time as a family and breathe in fresh air daily. It’s good for the soul and body.
Celebrate the month of November with family fun together, creative ideas, kindness, and thanksgiving. It can’t get much better than this, and you’ll be so grateful for the memories and time well-spent.
Statesboro native Julie Lavender is grateful for the love of God, family, friends, a beautiful place to live, and her newest book, "Strength for All Seasons: A Mom’s Devotional of Powerful Verses and Prayers."