Thirty-nine things to love about fall

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. As I get older, I’m coming to realize that I have fall allergies which isn’t the best thing in the world but even that can’t deter my love of fall. The crisp chill in the air, the sound of crunching leaves, it all just leaves me with a cozy, snuggly, happy feeling. It doesn’t hurt that my birthday is in fall and I always seems to get fabulous gifts - did I mention we bought a new house on my birthday this year?

This being my 39th year, I think I'm going to make it the year of the '39 things' list. To start out, here are the 39 things I most looking forward to this fall:

1. Raking leaves in our new yard. 
2. Pumpkin spiced NOTHING. I know I’m in the minority here but pumpkin spice just doesn’t do it for me. Now pumpkin roll is a whole other story! Bring it on!
3. Bonfires
4. Watching leaves silently fall. This is particularly rewarding if you’ve been talked at for hours by a 6- and/or 4-year old 
   
5. Jumping into a pile of leaves
6. Leaf ‘stained glass’ 
7. Acorns. Oh how my girls love to play with these. 
8. Squirrels. Everywhere. So entertaining!
9. Pumpkins and gourds and squash, oh my! 
   
10. Sweatshirts
11. Shorter days. Ok, so this is not something I’m really looking forward to per se but it totally encourages that cozy snuggly feeling and makes me want to hunker down and work on my home. 
12. Fall decorations
13. Trick or treating
14. Corn stalks (shocks? I never quite got that straight.)
15. Bats and black cats and construction paper. Need I say more?
16. Finding how nuts my dog will go now that we will finally have trick or treaters. 
17. Handing out candy for the first time in 10 years. 
18. Apple picking
19. Football. And not the sham that they put on TV. The real stuff. High school football. With the band and everything!
20. Reese's peanut butter cups. Yup. I steal them from my kids trick or treating candy.
    
21. The local Halloween parade. M has asked me to walk with her since it’s at night. Her daisy troop is going as girl scout cookie boxes. Seriously. Does it get any cuter than that??
22. Fire safety week. Knowing that the kids get so excited about meeting firefighters and seeing the fire trucks makes me so happy. I remember riding on one at school when I was a kid.
23. Halloween costumes. My girls are requesting store bought costumes this year (which I knew would come sooner or later) but I’ve enjoyed making their costumes in the past. Last years request for a praying mantis was a ton of fun!
24. Cool, foggy mornings
25. Crisp, clear nights
26. Corn mazes
27. Scarecrows
28. Indian corn
29. Pumpkin carving
30. Mums
31. Candy corn
    
32. Soup
33. It's the great pumpkin Charlie Brown! I can't wait to share this with my girls!
34. Osage oranges on the ground
35. Walnuts. My kids just love it when we "pop the walnuts" as we drive over them. 
36.  Concord grapes
    
37. School
38. But not school mornings
39. My birthday!

So you can see why I love fall so much, can't you? What's your favorite thing about fall?