One of my favorite times of year has always been the Autumn. This year I am working hard at getting myself into the spirit of decorating our home for Autumn. My mind is flooded with SO many memories of Will as we get ready to enter this special season. We had a lot of special times in the Autumn that I will always treasure. So getting ready for our first Autumn season without him here to do it with me is bittersweet. I miss him like crazy.
He was always such an encouragement to me as I found ways to decorate our home for each season. He loved the fact that it meant a lot to me to find ways to warm up our home with special touches that made our home extra special during this colorful season, here in the Ozarks. He would tell me how much it meant to him that I cared enough to go the extra mile to find inexpensive ways to celebrate every season of the year.
This year, I am waiting for Annie to visit us over the weekend of September 21-23 so that she can help me to pull out the Autumn boxes from our storage area upstairs. Having her help us decorate will make it a special time of new beginnings and sharing special memories of Autumns past when Daddy was with us.
Until then…I thought I would share the post I wrote last year when I was preparing our home for the Autumn season. I hope it gives you some ideas and gives you a glimpse into our lives before everything turned upside down and we had to begin finding a new sense of normal. It sure brings a flood of memories back for me!
Here it is…Autumn on a tight Budget from October 17, 2011.
(Our front door decor—just $2.00 at Dollar General this month)
Welcome to our home! Autumn has to be one of my very favorite seasons…not that I haven’t mentioned this before…LOL. There is so much to see! There is so much to do! There is so much to celebrate!!!
One of the ways that I enjoy marking the seasons is by finding ways to decorate our home in very inexpensive ways (we are on a VERY tight budget) for each season. When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of being able to decorate with fun, festive decorations that would help my family to feel good and smile as they spent time in our home together. I wanted to created special memories as a family and have our home “celebrate” our favorite seasons and holidays through finding ways to decorate that remind us that something special is happening.
Here are some of our family’s favorite Autumn decorations…I loved having the boys help me find places to put them up in our home and listen to them share why they liked their own favorites!
Welcome to our home…
This is Will’s favorite Autumn decoration. You have no idea how simple this was! It is just a baby quilt that someone gave me for Michael, when he was born. He is now three and I was getting ready to store this away, when I realized that it would be a great Autumn decoration that would hold special meaning for us! No cost involved! I just pinned it to the wall. This happens to be “Will’s spot” in our living room. lol Its his comfortable spot that he loves to sit and relax, visit, watch his favorite sermons or a movie with us, and this is where he sits to lead us in Family Worship.
Will says he loves the fact that I decorate for each season all over our home. He has shared with me that he really appreciates the fact that I take the time to add special little touches all over our house for the seasons and holidays. It means a lot to him. (Which is so neat because it means a lot to me too!)
(scarecrow dolls)
Michael’s (age three) favorite Autumn decorations greet you when you first enter our home. I was so thrilled to find these two cuties at a thrift store two years ago. These scarecrows were just $2.00 each! I was so excited! Michael loves them! And I must admit…they always make me smile when I see them.
I asked Josh (age eight) which one is his favorite. I had to smile at his answer…
He loves the fact that I hung our Leaf Rubbings in a place of honor over my desk in our dining room. Wow. I had no idea how special that would make him feel. You can guarantee that we will be making some more special decorations so that I can display their own art in our home to help us celebrate each season! I plan to add picture frames to these beauties as soon as it’s in the budget!
I guess that leaves me. LOL I would have to say that my favorite Autumn decorations would have to be the fact that my sweet husband enjoys the fact that I get excited and put little homey Autumn touches all over our house. Here’s a peek at some of my bargain decorations…
This little bit of Autumn fun was found at a yard sale about three years ago for just .50!!! It is proudly displayed on the wall between our kitchen and the door to our mudroom.
This little cutie (the Welcome to Harvest scarecrow) was found at a local thrift store for just .25!!! It makes a great little touch of Autumn fun in the wall arrangement in our kitchen!
This precious little wooden Autumn leaf wreath was found at the same thrift store for just a quarter!!! Don’t you love our little Irish angel? My husband loves to have touches of Ireland around our house year round. I enjoy blessing him by finding things like this to show him that his passions and interests are important to me. So this one has a place of honor on the wall in our living room. And I love to decorate with family photos! They are inexpensive and hold so many memories…so you will find them all around our home.
This is a peek at the wall that our bed faces in our master bedroom. It makes me smile when I wake up in the morning. I found this sweet “Harvest Blessing” wall hanging for just $2.00 at Dollar General last year.
While I realize that the decor in our home may not rise to some standards of designer magazines…what makes it special is that it adds something special and festive that really contribute to an environment that says “home” to us. We need to remember that we don’t have to spend a lot of money to create a “homey” environment. Every home is different…just like every family is unique. That’s one of the things I love about home.
But I have to admit…this little touch is near the top of my favorites list. This precious, orange-clove scented candle was beautiful gift from Will and our boys at the beginning of October as an early birthday present (not till next week!). And I love how Josh and Michael decided to share their little treasures from the Farmer’s Market to make a simple, but cheery, centerpiece for our dining table. I absolutely LOVE candles!
I hope you enjoyed the little tour of Autumn touches on a tight budget!
Question: So what are some of your own favorites from your home as you decorate for Autumn and Thanksgiving? I would love to hear about them!!!
Next time I’ll share about what we are using for homeschooling this year. Do you homeschool?
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Unwrapping His Grace,
Mary Joy
