The dog days of summer are quickly coming to an end and fall is peeking around the corner. It’s bittersweet as we say goodbye to lazy days by the pool, flip flops,  and another year of Summer of Fun. I love summer but always get excited as I anticipate the first signs of the leaves changing color, the air beginning to get a bit of a crispness to it and pumpkin everything finally appearing.

Some think I’m crazy. Maybe I am. As an autumn baby (although not a September baby), my favorite season has always been fall and September begins the journey. September isn’t as spectacular as October and doesn’t hold the thankfulness of November, but in it’s own right, September has a special place. Some month had to go first in fall and September got the spot.

What’s special about September? Well, September is simple. The weather is more mild than summer and not as cold as winter. The holidays are nice, but not as big and hectic as ones in other months. By this point, most school’s are back in session (many of you parents couldn’t wait for that day, huh?   ), cozy sweaters and warm blankets are starting to appear in your closet, and it’s almost fire sitting season with roasted marshmallows and s’mores!!!

Sometimes, I don’t know what to do with myself once summer is over. I don’t really plan an Autumn Family Fun list (although, that could be amazing, huh?) but not right now, so I had to decide how I wanted to celebrate September and of course, as many of you know, that means I let my fingers do the walking (which if you’re old enough, used to mean flipping through the big yellow phone book….YIKES! Did that just give away how old I am? LOL). Anyway, yep to the internet I went. Ya’ll I love celebrating any little thing and September is full of little things to celebrate!

I knew I wanted to spend time with the fam and I knew I wanted to make every day things, things to celebrate! Which led me to writing down things I learned about September and jotted some ways I could celebrate them with my family and you all know I’m ALL ABOUT family.

Hopefully, you’ll glean some great ideas from this which will give you some simple September celebrations with YOUR family

September is 

National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sep 15 through Oct 15) –  I’m not Hispanic, not even a little bit, but this gave me sooo many ideas! We could have an Hispanic dinner where we eat all of the faves: Cream Cheese and Chicken Taquitos, Homemade Guacamole, and Mexican Fruit Salad!! Maybe just for fun, I’ll buy a little Pinata at my local party store!! Oooooo, now THAT could be fun!!

National Potato Month – Okay, let’s be honest here; who doesn’t love potatoes??!! (show of hands?) Yeah, not very many of us!! LOL! Have you ever had potato cakes? Oh my, talk about delish! Or, you could use potatoes to make a light bulb glow! Say Whaaaat?!! Yep, those lil taters are versatile to say the least. You can not only make a light bulb glow, but you can mash ’em, fry’em, bake ’em or simply french fry ’em up!! YUM!!

National Piano Month – I LOVE the piano, took lessons for nearly 20 years. Celebrating this is super exciting for me even though I don’t get to play much any more. I think it would be fabulous to go to the library and grab a couple piano CD’s as background music for a day or evening when everyone’s home doing their own thing. YouTube always has a crap ton of piano videos you could have playing in the background. Really, this is one of the best ways to expose kids to music without them feeling like you’re forcing them to listen. Here are a few of my faves: Ludovico Einaudi – Dietro Casa, New York Jazz Lounge, John Tesh: Avalon, Top 50 Best Classical Piano Music

Okay, I’ll stop there or we could be here all night!! LOL! I love piano music!!

Of Course there’s the traditional holiday Labor Day which is the most well known holiday in September. It is observed every year on the first Monday in September. Most folks get together for a cookout and to hang out with family and friends and that’s okay. I also like to remind my kids why it’s a holiday. The Department of Labor puts it this way;

“Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”

WOW, Right?!!

Other ‘holidays in September are

• Native American Day – always celebrated on the 4th Friday of September. This is how some celebrate instead of celebrating Columbus Day. I’ve read up on this and much of it makes sense. Sorry Chris.
• Grandparent’s Day –  observed in the United States on the first Sunday after Labor Day. Invite them to lunch or just go be with them. Grandparents have a wealth of information to share if we will only listen and ask questions.
• Constitution Day – celebrating the ratification of the governing document of the United States, is observed on the 17th.
• The autumn equinox –  which is the traditional transition from summer into fall and takes place on or around September 22nd, depending on the year. Hello sweet FALL!!!

These are some more days I plan to celebrate with my family and they are pretty self-explanatory. Enjoy them all the same, for sure!

• September 5th: National Cheese Pizza Day
• September 9th: National Teddy Bear Day
• September 16th: National Play-Doh Day
• September 19th: International “Talk Like A Pirate Day”

And of Course,

• On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, members of the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners as part of a series of coordinated attacks against targets in the United States.

One of the saddest of remembrances in September is that of 9/11. Such senseless horror and loss. My oldest son was only 5 years old the day it happened and I remember him asking, ” why are dose airpanes going fru dose buildings mama?” I was in the kitchen when he asked and when I came around the corner and saw the TV I was in shock. What was going on? How does a pilot make that sort of error? Then the reports of the truth started coming in and I had to explain to my 5 year old son that I didn’t know the answers. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the awfulness of what was happening. The only thing I could say was there are some really bad people in the world and we aren’t always going to understand why.  I couldn’t answer all of his questions, but he sat there with me the entire time. He was sad that the ‘splosion’ was going to hurt so many people and we cried. He doesn’t remember that day very clearly, but we talk about it on occasion.

On this day, our family observes a moment of silence and we pray for the families, even now so many years later.

 

Let’s not leave on a sad note. Here is one more day to celebrate in a BIG way!

We already have a door in our kitchen where we write down things we are grateful for, but I think we’ll take it a step beyond that and find ways to show gratitude to others as well! We are truly blessed!!

September is full of promises and wonderful things to experience. I pray your September is one to remember.

Happy Fall, Ya’ll!!