A vintage image filled alphabet of fall favourites

My excitement over the fact that we are now, really and truly, into my favourite month of the entire year cannot be contained. I'm buzzing with more energy than if I just ate a semi-trailer truck's worth of the very sweetest Halloween candy (alas, I haven't had a single piece...yet!).

If you've been following my blog for a while now, a.) thank you immensely and b.) chances are you're well acquainted with how much I go utterly wild for all of autumn. Naturally including the gorgeous month of October, and its crowing glory, All Hallows' Eve, which will greet us again in about four weeks time.

To celebrate the start of the 10th month of the year - one of, if not often "the" busiest for our family, thanks to numerous events such as Canadian Thanksgiving, multiple family birthdays (including my sister and maternal grandma's), our wedding anniversary (Tony and I will be toasting twelve awesome years together on the 14th), and of course Halloween itself - I recently had the fun idea of listing some of my very favourite elements of the season.

I wanted to put a different spin on such however, to distinguish it from similar fall/Halloween centered lists, such as this one from 2013, and like a bolt of stormy fall time lightning, the idea struck me recently to do so by presenting such in the form of an alphabet.

This, in and of itself, tying into the start of the school year last month and the general air of all this academic that fills the early weeks of this season.

As it's Sunday and most of us are busy enjoying these final days of mild sunshine and accompanying warmth while they're still here, I didn't want this post to be a huge one by any means and have thus opted to list each entry - which speaks for itself, I feel - simply with with its name, a few further words at most, and an accompanying vintage image.

There are truly countless things to love about fall and this selection of twenty-six entries is the mere tip of the iceberg, but they're some of my perpetual favourites and one that I know are near and dear to many of hearts as well. So without further ado, may I present an alphabetical look at some of the best elements of fall.
 
1. Apples (especially candy and caramel ones!) 


2.Bats



3. Costume parties



4. Dinner, Thanksgiving (yum-yum!!!)


5. Eeriness (as in the general sense of mystery that fills the air as Halloween draws near) 


6. Fall leaves, in all their jewel toned splendor



7. Goblins, ghosts, and ghouls of every sort!



8. Harvest time



9. (The) Invisible Man



10. Jack-o-lanterns



11. Knits - sweaters, scarves, gloves, you name it!



12. Lighting candles on the nights grow longer once more



13. (The) Moon - crescent, harvest, full, any stage of this gorgeous heavenly element is all the more at home during autumn time



14. Nuts - very much including the seasonal gem that is acorns



15. (The colour) Orange



16. Popcorn being transformed into all kinds of sweet and savoury treats (very much including caramel corn and popcorn balls)



17. Queuing up on the first day back to school



18. (Hay) Rides in the crisp autumn air



19. Scarecrows



20. Trick-or-treating



21. (Carrying) UNICEF boxes to collect for charity on Halloween night



22. Vampires (and vampire movies)




23. Werewolves (and, likewise werewolf movies)

24. (The e)Xcitement of Halloween!




25. Yellow, orange and white - the traditional colours of that sweet fall time treat, candy corn!



26. Zombies

{To learn more about a specific image used in today's post, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.}

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Which of these autumnal favourites strikes a particular chord with you as well? Are there others that would have take top billing on a list like this of your own? (And, naturally, if you do want to follow my lead and create your own fall favourites alphabet, please, by all means go for it - I'd adore reading your selection as well anytime!)

In a way, I want to say that this week is like the calm before the storm of epic activity that will unfold throughout the month, but in reality, it's already hopping with excitement, full days, and plenty of festive happenings - and you know, I really wouldn't have it any other way.

From my earliest childhood memories onward, October has been a busy, exhilarating time of the year and as someone who really loves to focus on family, tradition, and holidays, this month and its festive happenings brings me an endless amount of happiness.

I hope that it does the same for you as well, no matter what's on your (slice-of-Halloween-cake topped) plate this month, and that you enjoyed this fun alphabet post.

It's a charming way to roundup some of the elements that one treasures the most about a given season and I'm now, quite literally as I type these very words, wondering if perhaps I should give one a go for winter/Christmastime, too. Definitely let me know in the comments below if you'd be keen to see such here as well.

My sweet and wonderful friends, from my heart to yours, I wish you each a gorgeous, thrilling and very merry month of October - which I can hardly wait to celebrate again with you from start to spooky costume clad finish!

Halloween 2013 edition of Flickr Favourites

{Bewitching ~ ondiraiduveau}

{Candle stix ~ obsequies}

{Halloween pinup ~ ondiraiduveau}

{Happy Halloween! ~ Aqua Owl}

{Marilyn ~ ondiraiduveau}

{Photo-Play Journal October 1920 ~ Captain Geoffrey Spaulding}

{Sophie's first Halloween ~ jimheid}

{Mmmmm...Pumpkin Pancakes! ~ ghostofhalloweenspast}

{Myrna Loy ~ ondiraiduveau}

{Halloween postcard 6 ~ rubylite12}

{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on its title to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}


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There is something about the final days of October that instill in me the kind of excitement one typically expects to have left behind in childhood. By today, a mere one more "sleep" (as we used to call nights counted down in anticipation of something special when I was a youngster) away from All Hallows Eve, it's all I can do to actually get a single wink of sleep.

I'm giddy with happiness and excitement, fighting the urge to put on my costume now and just sit near the door, bowl brimming with sweet treats in my arms, to hand out to all of the little ghouls and goblins that will come a knocking in two nights time. I both want the 31st to get here dearly, and at the very same time, am trying to preserve every last second of these final, chilly wind kissed October days. For all too soon they'll be over more quickly than you can unwrap a mini chocolate bar or say "hocus pocus".

It's anything but a state secret that I love - nay, massively adore - with a passion that knows no bound - Halloween. I wait for it with great intensity and anticipation each year, celebrating every day of October as an extension of All Hallows Eve itself. These final couple of days though, right before the crispy leaf swirled magic of the day itself is unleashed on the world, is very nearly as wonderful and perfect as Halloween itself.

Today's roundup of Flickr image pays tribute to the spooky, sweet, immeasurable fun of this week, which I know is a firm and beloved favourite of many of you as as well. I hope that - should you need an extra dose of enthusiasm this year, it will help deliver just that your way.

Enjoy these moments of spirited (perhaps in more ways than one!) merriment, these final days of October's glowingly golden sunlight, and the remaining one day of countdown until Halloween itself appears - like the Great Pumpkin rising from the pumpkin patch - once more.

Halloween just wouldn’t be the same to me without…

If you've ever read this blog before during Octobers past (and/or your follow me on Pinterest), than chances are you may already know that I'm one of those folks who eats, sleeps, breathes, and most definitely blogs about Halloween. Yes indeedy, though, naturally, my passion for All Hallows Eve springs to life most vividly during October, throughout the whole year I think about this spooky, enchanted, pumpkin and black cat filled day and pretty much become as giddy as a child when this month finally rolls into town again.

Out comes my treasured little collection of decorations, festive recipes, beloved seasonal movies, and photographs of Halloween past to wax nostalgically about with my relatives. Though there's much to get done and experience this month before all of those delightfully eerie little hobgoblins come knocking at the door for sweet treats once more, it's never too soon to talk about Halloween. On this nippy early October morn, as a rather fitting layer of frost glistens like a specter across the lawn and a dozen more ruddy cheeked maple leaves flutter to the ground before I even finish this sentence, that's precisely what I'm going to do.

There are certain things that are almost universally beloved and/or seen as steadfast signs of this holiday. Jack-o-lanterns, flocks of bats screeching in the crisp night air, witches stirring cauldrons, crumbling old headstones, the sound of heavy chains rattling, dressing up and filling your tummy with a rather substantial amount of chocolate, to name but a few.

These shared, fabulous, elements of Halloween are all things I adore, but there are plenty more as well - some of which many of you will no doubt also treasure, others which are traditions in my family (such as pizza - something my mom made from scratch almost every Halloween night when I was growing up, and which I continue to the same myself now as an adult), but perhaps not as universally associated with Halloween.

Most though, are things we all eagerly look forward to and which the season simply wouldn't seem the same without. Here's to the fun, magic, and cobweb covered memories of each and every one of these 31 (one each for every day of the month) Halloween must-haves!

{It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown}

{Reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein}

{Candy Apples}

{Michael Jackson's Thriller song & video}

   

{A trip to the local pumpkin patch}

{Homemade pizza}

{Faux cobwebs}

{Vintage (Halloween) pin-up photographs}

{Apple cinnamon flavoured or scented anything - food, air fresheners, candles, you name it!}

{Disney's classic movie Hocus Pocus} 

 

{Festive fireworks}

{Roasted pumpkin seeds}

{Campy mid-century scary movies}

{Vintage Halloween candles}

{The Addams Family}

{Dressing up in any costume you want}

{Green Ghost board game} 

 

{Carving pumpkins}

 

{Ghostbusters}

{Halloween themed foods}

{Staring up at the moon and secretly hoping you'll see a witch fly past it}

{The Halloween edition of Martha Steward Living Magazine}

{Haunted Houses}

{Making Kleenex ghosts}

{Caramel popcorn} 

{Decorating your house (and/or yard)}

{Telling ghost stories}

 

{Dry Ice}

 

{Halloween themed episodes of Home Improvement} 

{Throwing festive parties}

 

{All that delicious candy!!!}

{To learn more about a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.} 

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Ahhh, I so knew this was going to happen! I'm now even more excited, having put together this list, than I was yesterday. Can a person go twenty-five days without sleep? I kid, of course, but only slightly. I really do get so blissfully happy and endlessly excited for Halloween, that come the last few days before the Witching Hour arrives, it's all I can do to force myself to sleep a wink.

Yes, it's been many a year since I last traipsed around the neighbourhood, pillow case in one hand, the other holding my witch's hat on or vampire cape around my neck, but that doesn't mean I don't still go equally gaga over this mysterious, fun filled, fabulously cool night and the whole month that houses it.

To me Halloween is about the past and the present. It sings in playfully ominous tones of All Hallows Eves from years gone by, and gives me so much to look forward to in the moment. This day, for all its history and mystery, association with horror and grimness, is also terrifically lighthearted and (naturally) high spirited.

Halloween, much like the costumes we don for it, can be whatever you want it to be. Serious, sweet, mischievous, playful, darling, silly, lively or serene. There's no right or wrong way to celebrate October 31st and the spooktacular days that proceed it, just the way that you love, complete with all of the things that ensure Halloween feels like it should for each of us.

Here's to an incredible month and All Hallows Eve, my dear ghouls and boos, may it be a fabulously awesome one for everybody!!!



*PS* Speaking of seriously wonderful Halloween things, one of Chronically Vintage's lovely blog sponsors, Blue Velvet Vintage, is holding a super cool Pinterest centered Halloween giveaway contest this month for those located in US.

For more on this contest, pop on over to Blue Velvet Vintage's beautiful blog or Facebook page. Festive Halloween themed pining with vintage looks and garments - now that sounds frighteningly fun! :)