Update: Autumn Bucket List

Yes, yes, yes, I know, autumn technically lasts well into September, but let's be honest ... the moment November stretches his tender fingers, we start humming Christmas songs and winter is literally coming (Game of Thrones reference intended). 

So, let's update the Autumn Bucket List, cut my losses, celebrate my wins, and make space for my Christmas list (soon to follow). 

You can find the original Autumn Bucket List here, with all my goals and intentions. 

My number one goal was to go to a local bookshop and drink a cup of tea. I did that on an afternoon with Finn, while Lily stayed with her dad. I got a book called The Winter Spirits: Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights, and can't wait to delve into that one. As Finn was with me, it wasn't as serene as I had planned, but I enjoyed it immensely nevertheless. 

For number 2) and 3), I did read the Harry Potter books again, but I didn't get to baking an apple or pumpkin pie. This was partly because of my two-week sugar and gluten-free diet. I did, however, eat a homemade apple pie someone else made, and that was delicious, so the autumnal taste was ticked off. 

Number 4) Do a Ghost Photo Shoot, was my absolute favourite thing on the list. On a Sunday morning, I dumped the kids with my husband and left with my tripod, phone, a large ghostly sheet (which turned out to be not big enough), a pair of glasses and, I thankfully remembered that, my witchy cloak because I figured I might as well take some shots with that. While the ghost part of the shoot was definitely improvable, I loved the witchy cloak shots. I definitely want to do that again next year as my outfit under the cloak wasn't ideal for the photos. Lessons learned, to be continued. 

As for the sensory bins, my kids and I went chestnut and pine cone hunting and made an autumnal sensory bin out of it. As for number 6) Do Two Autumnal Day Trips: we went to Gut Aiderbichl in Salzburg. It's basically a huge animal shelter, but Lily was mostly terrified because some of the free roaming goats were pretty aggressive. On the plus side, they already had their Christmas hall decorated and we enjoyed the Christmassy atmosphere a lot (and got some sneaky Christmas shopping done). 
The weather was so beautiful on that day and the leaves of the trees in russet and maroon hues, it was just autumnal perfection.  

When the rain was pattering down against the window on a Sunday afternoon, I retreated into my bedroom to fold laundry, a steaming cup of hot cocoa on the bedstand and Dan in Real Life on the laptop. And, again, the movie didn't disappoint. I did not really watch a slightly scary movie, but I re-watched some episodes of Wednesday, so I can tick that item off the list, too. 

As for the autumn crafts...I am just not that crafty. I did, however, make a lantern with Lily for the St. Martin's lantern festival that's always celebrated in Austria. And for Halloween I baked the cutest Frankenstein brownies and ghost cupcakes, so I'll count that as a craft. It was a creative outlet, for sure. ​

And, of course, we did the annual pumpkin carving and Halloween bash - in fact, we had a lovely cosy, spooky Halloween s'mores with the closest family, and the big party for the kids on the 31st. Despite the far too warm weather, we really enjoyed the autumn time, and I can say that the list helped me enjoy everything even more. But now I'm looking forward to the Christmas season with all its joy and glory.