Yesterday I wrote about how I've been working on living more seasonally - making many little changes around the changing of the seasons. Some of these out of necessity (i.e. clothes: what's temperature appropriate in July isn't usually what's temperature appropriate in January) and many are just to contribute to the feeling of the season. Colder months are for cozying up at home, warmer months are for being out, at the very least, out in the backyard.
If this seems overwhelming, please know that I didn't all of a sudden decide one October that I wanted to make all these fall changes and boom, then they happened. Every year I seem to pile a few more on the list and this is where it stands currently! Some are as easy as switching lip balm flavors. Others involve (initially) sewing. They are all small changes that mark the passing of time. They contribute to the general feeling of the season and making certain markers for different times of the year.
I wrote about this one back here and have continued to change the 10 pictures for the season 4.5 times a year (the half switching out the Christmas ones for general winter in January). I haven't printed new Instagram pictures in a few years but I have a decent enough stash that I have options for each season!
2) Switching porch pictures
I wrote about this back here and also switch these pictures out 4.5 times a year. I keep most of the out of season pictures inside the frame so this only takes minutes each time the weather changes.
3) Changing lotion scents
Bath & Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar really smells like the Christmastime to me and so a few years ago I went back to B&BW for the first time in years to buy some lotion for my purse and home. Since I only use it two month of the year I have yet to go through those first bottles yet and I love how my hands smell in November & December. The rest of the year I use the same coconut scented lotion and that's fine.
4) Switching lip balm scents
These aren't always changed with the seasons, depends on what I have and what I am trying to use up but I do like the coconut in the summer (especially at the lake) and vanilla in the winter.
5) Flannel Sheets
We only have one set of flannel sheets for each our bed and Luke's bed (Sam will get some when he's out of the crib) so we don't solely use these in the winter but I do really like the washing rotation when they are on! We also, of course, add blankets to the beds in the cooler months. And I put on our heated mattress pad so I am never getting in a cold bed!
6) Seasonal Playlists
We aren't a big music household but I usually have it on when it's just the boys and I at home. OF COURSE we listen to a lot of Christmas music from Thanksgiving - New Years but even beyond that I have seasonal playlists for each season (except, I realized this morning, for winter). That's not solely what we listen to during each 3 month span (we do honor Backstreet Boys Sunday every Sunday, year round) but it's what we listen to the most. But then I also have playlists for the 4th of July, the lake, summer Saturday mornings, Friday afternoons, New Years and the week after, and for listening to next to the inflatable kiddie pool in the backyard. Some of these are inspired by trips we've taken at certain times of year (Spring, in particular is heavily New York themed due to our last 3 trips there being in the spring) but also just general feeling or songs I just want to listen to more.
7) Holiday TV Episodes
To go along with media consumtion, I also rewatch almost all of these shows every year before the particular holiday. Matt and I are about half way through the Halloween episodes as I write this. It's a little strange popping in and out of different series of shows and trying to remember where they are, but also, I've been doing this for 3 years so I am fairly familiar with these episodes. And it makes me want to rewatch whole series again but I am not about to give up all my reading time for that!
That's right, I have an annual movie schedule. I made this 3 years ago when I realized I had all these DVDs that I wasn't even watching every year (we still own almost all our DVDs from when things moved largely digital whenever that was. We don't buy very many but we didn't get rid of nearly all, you never know when things will disappear from streaming services! Very handy when Friends went off Netflix and The Office is about to. And they are in the basement so not a storage problem.). So I made a movie watching schedule with 19 movies on it. Some were easy to assign to a month (I watch The Family Stone every Thanksgiving Eve while addressing Christmas cards. Watch Love Actually and The Holiday while wrapping gifts in December. Watch Waitress while packing away Christmas.) and then I filled in the months that didn't have an obvious movie with a few left over (Moulin Rouge is September, I didn't have a month that movie really felt like.) December is the only month with 3 movies but I do usually have extra screen time then with wrapping and decorating.
Every month I write the movie I am going to watch on my monthly list and then get the satisfaction of checking it off. Most of this watching is in the background while working from home during Sam's naps (or before the boys woke up through this spring and summer) but I frequently get distracted by what is happening on screen, even though I've seen all these movies countless times. (That's March's movie, Morning Glory, in the background up there, at 7:35am during the second week of quarantine school!)
9) Pillow Covers
I made pillow covers a few years ago and then added some Christmas ones to my rotation pretty soon after that. Now this fall I made more fall/winter ones and it was fun to sew again AND have one more little marker for the fall. Also, my spring-y florals never felt quite right in October.
10) Holiday/Seasonal Decor
Not even close to the only way I mark the seasons. I have 6 (and I think I'm a minimalist??) bins of Christmas decor but most of the rest of the seasons' decor fits on one small shelf in our buffet (with taller items stored up high in Matt's office, so high I have trouble reaching it). It's enough to add a little bit of the season indoors without, generally, overwhelming things. And I really enjoy tweaking decor a few times a year anyways!
Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter share the top shelf. Summer is all the middle (largely pineapples and I don't even pack them all away in September!) and the bottom is fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving (mostly empty since fall decor is currently out).
11) Seasonal Picture Books
I'm a big fan of picture books and have slowly been adding to our seasonal selection over the years. I just started putting the non-Christmas seasonal books in with the decor so I always remember to pull them out when I'm decorating. I haven't yet figured out a good way to display them yet, right now they are just sitting on an extra kitchen chair in our dining area but I'll come up with something eventually. There is something nice about books we only read certain times of the year!
12) The books I reread every year
There are a handful of books I read and reread every year, the same time of year. I wrote about a few of these here and here but I also have a New Years Eve book (this one) and a Memorial Day book (this). As well as other books I reread about every other year.
13) All the weather dependent yard things
We only shovel snow in the winter (or last April). We walk home from school in the spring and the fall. We do yardwork mostly in the spring but also throughout the summer and fall. How we spend our time outside is greatly influenced by the weather and what needs done!
I wasn't planning on this list being so long until I started to brainstorm and then I came up with more than I expected! I really like figuring out new small ways to recognize the changing of seasons, the passing of time, and having reliable traditions (even if they are just watching the same movies every year) to count on. Especially with a looming holiday season that will probably be quite a bit different this year, it's nice to have our own traditions at home that we can count on!
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