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Preparing for the Fall and Winter [North East Living]

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Living in the North East means you get to enjoy each and every season fully. We have sunshine and clear skies, heat, humidity, dry spells and droughts. Bitter cold, blustery days, snow flurries, blizzards, down pours, thunderstorms, and I’ve even experienced lighting and thunder during a snow storm. Its actually pretty fantastic that we get to taste each season and enjoy its deliciousness, for a time. 

Of course many of us are preparing our homes for holiday gatherings with festive decor and what not, but today I wanted to share with all of you how I as a homemaker am beginning to prepare our home for the seasons ahead, aside from just decor. 

– I try to be mindful weekly and be as intentional as I can in regards to meal planning and prepping, however I do struggle in this area and I’m not always on the top of my game week to week. But, theres something about fall that really gets me motivated to spend more time in the kitchen. Maybe it’s the cooler temps and the thought of warm comfort foods. I can’t say exactly why, but I take the extra motivation and run with it. With cold weather coming I tend to be a bit of a homebody and I hate driving in the snow. So I use this time to really start stocking up on essentials. Making sure my pantry and freezer are well stocked. I also like to make soups ahead of time so that I have something already prepared to heat up for a quick meal. 

–This year I’m working on homemade Christmas gifts. I’m going to be making beeswax candles, hand balms and bath salts. I’ve been playing around with some different recipes so far I love this bedtime [calm balm]

I melted my beeswax, olive oil, and almond oil together in a pyrex measuring cup [set in a shallow pan of water on the stove.] Stirring with a wooden stick until completely melted and liquified. I poured it into the container added my essential oils, stirred and set to cool and harden on the counter. 

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and this creamy hand balm for those dry cracked winter hands.

I used the same process as above. 

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I’m also going to be making some sore muscle cream for my husband for those long days spent out in the cold and some beard balm for my brother. I’ll be sure to share those recipes once I have come up with a recipe I love. 

– I like to sort through the closets, especially the boys and take note of what we have and what we need in regards to winter gear. The grow so fast they haven’t been able to use their winter gear for more than one season. One year I didn’t do this, assuming we could just reuse what we had, nothing fit either boy and we had no snow clothes, no snow boots and a huge snowstorm headed our way. Needless to say we borrowed boots from a neighbor and ended struggling to find any stores that still had winter gear in stock. 

– Spend some time baking, now is a great time to start thinking about holiday desserts. Try some new recipes ahead of time so you’ve perfected it in time for your holiday gatherings. I also like to make some cookie dough batches a few weeks before I’m going to bake. Get most of the hard work out of the way. It gives me time to sit back and relax with family. 

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– Get outside, enjoy the beautiful Fall days. We love picking pinecones from our trees and different leaves on our walks. Do a fun craft with the kiddos. We just made these cute little noodle necklaces and the boys just giggled with excitement the whole time.

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– Do a bit of deep cleaning. I think the change of seasons is always an excellent opportunity to rearrange furniture, dust all the nooks and crannies, and give everything a good washing. 

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What are some thing you do to prepare for the Fall and Winter season? I’d love to hear about your rituals and rhythms. Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Blessings,

Bree 

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Great post originally from The Homemaking Momma

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