My Favorite Season

My Favorite Season

Pull up a chair and sit awhile

August 20, 2026

Dear Friend:

The first days of school were behind us and we were settled into a routine. There was a chill in the air and the leaves were starting to change. It was pumpkin season - Yes! Fall is my favorite time of the year. There were pumpkins everywhere. Pumpkins for decorating, pumpkins for carving and wait for it - Pumpkin bread, pumpkin pies, pumpkin butter, pumpkin everything!

I loved going to Funks Farm Market in Millersville, PA. The Funk family was a large family and they were farmers. I loved walking around the rows and rows of all kinds of pumpkins and gourds. Then there were the cornstalks. Another favorite was the absolutely beautiful Chrysanthemums in all the fall colors. Of course, all those pumpkins eventually found their way into my mother's kitchen.

I started my cooking and baking career standing on a chair at the counter in my mothers kitchen. Every time my mother headed toward the kitchen, I was right on her heels. I would climb onto a chair at the counter  and watch with great interest as my mother cut the neck pumpkins up for boiling for all those favorite pumpkin treats. Then we would get out the mixer and start creating delicious pumpkin bread and pumpkin pies.

Pumpkins weren't the only sign that fall had arrived. Apple season was just as exciting. My mother made apple cake, apple pies, caramel apples, and applesauce.

I loved the aroma of those baked goods filling the house!

Once the baking was finished, it was time to decorate the house for Halloween. Decorating the house for fall and Halloween was another treat. We waited with anticipation as my dad would bring the decorations down to the living room for us to decorate. Then we'd pull the decorations out one by one until the dining table and every other surface was filled. My mother always hung a paper skeleton on the front door and back door. Our house was on a corner so visitors generally came to either door.   

Sometimes we would make our costumes and sometimes we would buy our costumes for Halloween. Trick or treating was especially fun. I am a chocoholic so my favorite houses were not the best decorated or scariest, but the ones that gave out chocolate.

Of course, no fall was complete without jumping into a pile of freshly raked leaves. We did not have a big yard like houses in the suburbs or country but we still enjoyed raking leaves and jumping in the piles. The dog loved to burrow through the pile or stand outside the pile and bark at us kids. My parents were not amused.

Later when I became a mother I shared some of the same experiences with my girls. I did not put a skeleton on the door, but I did create a ceramic skeleton head with blood on it. I also made some of my girls costumes and then some were bought at a store.

As I grew older and became a mother, I realized I wasn't just decorating for Halloween or baking pumpkin bread. I was passing along traditions that had been handed down to me. Those traditions connect us—not only to each other, but also to those who came before us. There is great comfort in those connections.

Even today, the smell of pumpkin bread or a crisp autumn afternoon can take me right back to my mother's kitchen and those happy days of fall.

Until next time, stay well, stay safe, and stay connected to those you love.

Be well,

Emma

Emma is the voice behind Sharing with Seniors, where every story starts with a memory. Through stories of family, friendships, music, traditions, hometowns, and life's simple pleasures, she invites readers to pull up a chair, stay awhile, and remember the moments that have shaped their lives.