1. Trying to figure out what to do with the million apples you just picked...
2. ...and crunching into the first one on the way home.
3. Pulling over at a roadside stand and loading up on apple cider, candy apples, and perhaps the most glorious fall delicacy of all: APPLE CIDER DONUTS.
4. Staring down the last few wings of a once-giant pile and summoning up the strength to finish them.
5. Plunging a chip into a giant bowl of dip and feeling that little spark of relief when it doesn't snap on the way out.
6. Getting reacquainted with all the whiskey you neglected over the summer.
7. Enjoying that whiskey in belly-warming hot toddy form.
8. Catching the first faint whiff of grill smoke in the air when you pull into the parking lot for a tailgate, hours before a game.
9. Cracking oily-salty roasted pumpkin seeds between your teeth...
10. ...and washing them down with a dark, autumn-spicy pumpkin beer.
11. Switching back to hot coffee because it keeps your hands warm on the way to work.
12. Opening your front door and being invited in by the smell of what’s been going in your slow cooker all day.
13. Watching the cheese melt into a steaming-hot bowl of chili.
14. Curling up with a good book and a cup of tea on a blustery morning.
15. Spending a Sunday afternoon making an enormous batch of soup to put in your freezer for later.
16. Participating in one of America's most enduring traditions: The debate about whether candy corn is delicious or disgusting.
17. Pulling a gorgeous roast chicken out of the oven and getting ready to devour it with a bottle of wine.
18. Hearing the sound of wrappers crinkling when you dig through a giant pile of Halloween candy.
19. Ordering in the first night temperatures dip below 50 because come on, it's FREEZING out there.
20. Beholding a mountain range of leftovers the morning after Thanksgiving and, undaunted, planning out the greatest sandwich in the world.
21. Stirring cool whipped cream into your very first hot chocolate of the year, glad there's still plenty of time left before winter.
