Before I go full bore into Christmas magic (because in full disclosure, our tree and Christmas decorations were up the day after Thanksgiving — the morning, even!) I wanted to share a little fall warmth too!

There’s the change in the air outdoors, the slanted sun rays in the evening… and autumn is amazing for all that baking and those delicious, hearty soups… (some favorite recipes here) The kids agree!

And of course, I love decorating for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Autumn in general. I’ve always been a Fall kind of girl — revealing summer clothes never really suited me, I much prefer some cute layers and boots and scarves, and all those fun accessories! Not to mention caramel is one of my favorite things in the world — it’s a family inheritance 😉

So now that we finally have a gorgeous mantel in our home, I can decorate it for the seasons!

Hold on, back up: I haven’t even blogged about this yet! My in-laws came in September while my husband was off at Coast Guard recruiter school for three weeks, and they helped me complete a ton of home projects, including that glorious cloffice. The other big one was my father-in-law helped me build a mantel for our fireplace!

It was all brick before, with an unfinished top — so bizarre! — and now it is gorgeous and I just love it. It completely changes the living room. That, and the new coat of wall paint my husband surprised me with while I was in France with the kids (amazing, right?!), and our home is coming along so beautifully ❤

Before, during, and after, all dressed up for Halloween! (And yes, those frames contain pages from a Martha Stewart magazine. Because, why not? And also I was waiting for some prints of our family photos this summer…)

Isn’t it amazing?! I’m so proud of this project — I designed it, then my father-in-law and I got to work and DID it, on our own! I just got tired of waiting on contractors — it’s a small town and hard to get things done around here, hence the frontierswoman spirit of “I’ll just hike up my skirts and do it myself!” Ha! I’m so grateful to my in-laws for their support in all the craziness. This blog tutorial was really helpful in coming up with the concept and details — although mine is slightly different since it had to fit over an existing top of mantel, so the box is snug around the top and sides of all that brick.

The dream team!

Anyway, once Halloween was over I switched it up to more fall glory — and we finally got our photos up!

I love that white pumpkin on the end. (Check out my thanskgiving tablescape over here for more fall decor!) And of course I got some good fall books from the library to read with my daughter and she LOVED the one about fall leaves — especially the raking and jumping in piles part 😉 — so we had to go execute on a gorgeous fall day!

She especially loved that the neighbors had left out little kid-sized rakes, it was a blast for her to help out. I need to find some of our own for next fall!

And this cute kiddo was happy to tag along, of course 🙂

Was there ever a more cheerful baby?! I just love him!

Anyway, that’s a wrap on fall — I feel like we really got a chance to soak in the season.  (It helps we only had one major snowfall before Thanksgiving!) Now, on to Christmas cheer!