As we enter the fall season, I’m looking ahead with great excitement to some projects I have scheduled for the next few months.
It all started with planning a backyard party for my sister’s 70th birthday, a landmark occasion that couldn’t go without a memorable celebration. It began with an afternoon dinner with close family and friends, followed by cake served in the backyard with a live musician performing well-known songs from the ’60s and ’70s, to which I invited our nearby neighbours.
Although we all live within feet of one another, and wave as we go by, it’s been 20 or more years since some of these neighbours have come together for an event. Once the music and conversation started flowing, there was no stopping it. In the warm autumn sunshine, with plenty of cake and years to catch up on, we made the most of a very short time to reacquaint ourselves. We finally dispersed, talking about how nice it was to see one another and how we should do it again – soon.
There is definitely something about the loveliness of bringing kind people together that appeals to me.
And so, I began mulling over how I could bring folks together for more of that soul-soothing companionship… searching for ways I could create something new out of something familiar.
My first project is a co-creation with the people in my house and my closest neighbours to stage a fall display in our cul de sac around the theme of Thanksgiving and Halloween. It will be a display of painted, decorated and carved pumpkins placed on weathered Adirondack chairs – situated where everyone entering our neighbourhood will be able to enjoy them.
One neighbour has volunteered to secure the permit to hold fireworks on Halloween night. It will bring all the neighbours into the street for a final hoorah for fall and a tip of the hat to our pumpkin sentinels. And it will be the permission slip to start plans for the next season, Christmas…
I’m also going to host what I call “Festive Fridays.” Starting in mid-November and continuing every Friday until Christmas Day. I will open my doors to neighbours and friends to gather at my house to make and/or bake something seasonal. With mulled cider in hand, we will create a holiday wreath one evening, decorate a gingerbread house the next, bake and exchange cookies, make figgy pudding, bake a yule log cake, sing or hum carols, share stories of family celebrations, and inhale the scents of the season.
In the last couple years some new people have arrived in our neighbourhood representing cultures that honour traditions different from those of my upbringing. So, it is with anticipation I look forward to meeting these folks and learning and sharing some of the traditions we each hold dear.
I’m uncertain how my projects will unfold, but I’m excited about the people I’ll meet and the new memories we will create together.
Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on who and what is important in our lives. As we emerge from our COVID cocoons, why not create something new? Are there folks you haven’t seen in a long time, or maybe never met?
If my ideas spark you to try something similar, I’d love to hear about it. Please email me at publisher@seniorlivingmag.com or submit a comment under this article when it appears on our website. I’ll look forward to hearing about your plans and adventures.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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