Welcome fall...at Least I Hope...by Mary Hazlett

With 80 degree weather here it hardly feels like fall. Nevertheless, the calendar and the leaves are telling me different! Every year about this time I think about why I LOVE Fall!!! 

Well...pumpkin bread, colorful trees, cool nights, family time, sweaters, and YES oh YES.... HALLOWEEN!! I thank my mom for that one! With each Halloween, we would spend hours decorating with webs, gravestones, spiders, coffins, pumpkins, and then don our scariest garb that would be sure to scare even the bravest of child. Yes, those were the good ol' days! 

Speaking about my Mom and Halloween also reminds me of her talent to tell stories.  We have all enjoyed those...

Don't you admire the people that can make a story out of anything... I do!  My mother was one of the greatest story tellers in HISTORY.  She would take things as simple as a hole in a rock and elaborate on how "little people" lived there with their grand celebrations and adventures.  It seemed that each road trip we would take, my family could hardly wait to hear more when Mom would tell her stories of rocks, houses, and villages that we passed.  My son had to be one of my mom's greatest admirers for her ability to make magic out of a simple object.  (They nearly spent one entire afternoon swinging on the swing set, telling stories of flying around the galaxy, attacking aliens, and throwing poop at the intruders in their space station.....yep, she was a magical story teller!)


One of my favorite story telling session happened just last year.  Here at Mom's house she had set up all her Halloween decorations:  the pumpkins along the walkway, the ghost in the tree, and the witch's hat and broom next to the rocking chair.  As my son, Benson, and I opened the front door Benson asked, "Is there a witch in the house?"  Laughing, Mom replied with, "You bet..." and she began this epic story of Helga the witch and how she loved candy so much that she began Halloween.

Yes, that ability to capture an audience, especially that of a 4 year old, is AMAZING!  So of course when, Benson asked, "Are we putting out the witch's hat and broom this year"... It was done!!!

Welcome Fall! Welcome Family Traditions!  Welcome New Memories to share for years to come!

**Share with us your stories at nutshellstories@gmail.com.