Of all the seasons, my favorite is autumn. Part of that is due to the beauty I saw growing up around this time of year. In the Midwest, the leaves would change color, turning from vibrant green to rusted colors. The trees would shed themselves of summer’s fragments and everyone would find their way to the orchards, ready to pick out the recent harvest: apples, pumpkins, fruits, vegetables, and then finish off a day in the fields with a drink of apple cider with mitten covered hands. Fall also happens to be sweater weather, which I long for even over here in Taiwan, where heat is in abundance and palm trees line nearly every street. And then there are other amazing things about fall: Halloween, haunted houses, raking leaves, and all the pies and desserts. The grand finale of the entire season is Thanksgiving, which (at least in my mind) definitively separates fall and winter, even if there is snow caking the ground when late November rolls around.
While the weather in Taiwan and the traditions might be different during this time of year, no matter where you are in the world, what you celebrate, or what language you speak, most of holidays all center around the same idea: bringing people together.
Mid-Autumn Festival occurs different times of the season due to the lunar calendar, but the routine is still the same. Your company, family, or even your friends will rush to places like Costco and gather the supplies: fish, meat, vegetables, moon cakes, sun cakes, pineapple cakes, other sweet treats, drinks, barbecue sauces, kimchi, bread, and whatever else you’d like to toss onto the grill. And then, for an entire afternoon, you sit around the grill and cook, eat, chat, and spend time together.
Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) is all about family and food. My extended family will gather at one house, making the whole event a big potluck. We’ll catch up, have sodas and other drinks, help fix the last of dinner, and then all sit around the table or in the living room. We’ll indulge on stuffing, green beans, mac and cheese, turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and the like. And then just when we think we’re stuffed more than the turkey was, we’ll go for the last event of the night: dessert. Fruit pies line the tables and the kitchen, accompanied by either Cool Whip or ice cream depending on your taste. I always go for Cool Whip, because there’s nothing better than topping your pumpkin pie with a big ol’ dollop of whipped cream. And then to finish off the night, we’ll place games on the table or sit around on sofas, chatting it up and talking about anything and everything. By the time we all leave, we’re overstuffed–both with food and memories.
If there’s one thing that’s become pretty clear to me over the years, especially after being away from home so long, it’s that your family and friends matter most. The people you surround yourself with, find yourself giggling next to, or leaning up against during the hardest times are the ones to spend the important events with, whether it be something as monumental as a holiday or as trivial as a trip to the grocery store sometimes.
No matter where you are in the world this season, I hope you find yourself among the comfort of your family and friends. There’s no better place to be in the world than close to the ones we love the most, sipping on delicious drinks and taking time to truly appreciate everything we have. After all, the greatest currency in the world happens to be the memories we make over the years.
