Some Tips + a Blessing for Fall 🍂🥃🐦

a decorating hack, Old-Fashioned mocktails, birdwatching, and more

Hello. It’s starting to really feel like fall, isn’t it? And chances are, as the weather changes, your own life and circumstances are probably shifting seasons, too. Here are some practical tips and ideas, and the bottom I’ll share a blessing for the changing season ❤️

• If you haven’t already, I encourage you to plan your Yeses and Nos for fall. What are your priorities for the next few months? What isn’t too important?

  

• What are a few foods or items that will make a big impact to help your home feel extra welcoming and cozy?
  Here’s a cheap decorating hack: buy pillow inserts and change out the covers by season so you don’t have to keep paying $$$ for dozens of pillows (and finding places to store them.) My designer friend Diana suggests buying inserts that are slightly larger than the covers so the pillows look more full; I bought 20x20 inserts for 18x18 covers. Bonus if you can find double-sided designs like the ones below; I’m using orange and yellow for fall and I’ll flip them around to blue and beige for winter ❄️

  

• Here’s a fall mocktail to try: an alcohol-free Old-Fashioned. A big ol’ ice cube, apple cider, a splash of Angostura bitters¹, a couple syrupy cherries, and a strip of orange peel for garnish. Bonus: use Carolina Gelen’s smoked cinnamon hack! A cozy drink to look forward to—especially on your day of rest—really packs a punch. (Pun intended.)

  

• Tis the season for bird-watching! A 2020 German study found that “seeing 10 percent more bird species generates satisfaction on par with a comparable increase in income.” That’s kind of shocking, but trying to spend more time looking for birds is worth a try, right? 😅
  We don’t do ads or sponsors on Family Scripts, but Susan, a reader of Family Scripts, owns a really cool company that I think you’ll want to know about. Happy Birdwatcher Co. offers birdwatching kits and customized birdseed for your area and the season. Our kit came with a letter addressed to my kids and it suggested birds we might see in our town. How cool is that! I asked Susan for a promo code and she said yes! FAMILYSCRIPTS will get you 15% off 😊

Address crossed out for privacy, but isn’t it cool that the birdseed and letter are truly customized for your family and area? I love it when companies are thoughtful like that.

A Blessing for Fall

May your home—imperfect as it is, and whether it’s a cluttered apartment, an under-renovation house in the suburbs, or a pre-owned RV—be a place of respite for your family and for others who need it.

May you be a safe person for people who need to share their story and receive a hug (and maybe a cookie, too.)

May you have warm and special times with people who make you feel like a kid again.

May you enjoy the children in your life like never before, not for who they could be or who you wish they were, but for who they are right now.

May you feel confident in your clothes and appearance, focusing more on the beauty of your heart than the creases on your forehead.

May all five senses be delighted by things that come out of your kitchen this season.

May all five senses be delighted by wonders in nature this season, too.

May you make many special memories being active outdoors together. (And resting outdoors together, too.)

May your heart be overwhelmed with gratitude as you watch birds, sunsets, and laughing children.

And may you have time to ponder this season. May you have the margin—even if they’re just 5-minute pockets here and there—to read and sit and journal and be bored…to really think about things and not just numb your feelings. I’m challenged by this quote by C.S. Lewis: “If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.” May you find real answers this season.

This isn’t a religious newsletter, but I’m a Christian, and I will be praying these things for you. I love you all and wanted you to know ❤️

Warmly,

Hope from Family Scripts

1. Aromatic bitters include alcohol in the same way vanilla does. It’s an inconsequential amount and fine to splash some into a drink for kids.