Is it me or is fall late this year? I don’t think I’m imagining it. I’ve been looking at pictures from over the years and it seems to me that my kids are usually more bundled up by this time of year, the leaves are more colorful, or even starting to disappear, and chillier nights and mornings usually have me a little more invigorated than I’ve been feeling lately.

I am a cold weather creature and I just can’t wait to switch from sandals to boots and from T-shirts to sweaters. One of the early signs that the Wonderful Husband and I were meant to be is that we agree that if we ever move, it will be in a northern direction, not a southern one. Sure, the aggravation of frosty windshields and the threat of black ice comes along with the colder weather, but so do sleigh rides and snowball fights, and let’s not forget, snow days!

I think one of the other reasons I love the onset of cold weather is because it brings with it the holiday trio of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sure, it’s chaotic and we eat too much and spend too much money, but this time of year is just magical. Halloween costume choices have been interesting this year. We’ve really stepped away from the cookie cutter action figure/princess costume molds.

E is going to be a mad scientist. I’m trying not to take this as a personal insult of some sort, and it’s more of a cute costume than a scary one. She’s repurposing a bright pink wig from a dance costume, and we’ve had a blast turning it into “crazy hair.” We have some flasks left over from science experiments, and slime is the perfect material to fill them up with, since we can lug it around all night without it spilling.

A is joining with some friends to create a sketch from “Saturday Night Live” for their school costume party and the various parades that the band is in and is still tinkering around with some other ideas for his individual costume idea. I love the creativity that he’s displaying, as he’s throwing out ideas that are slightly more esoteric or pun based. Of course, I’m probably going to regret his ultimate decision if it requires me to be at all crafty, and the clock is ticking!

G has always come up with interesting ideas, at least he has since he got out of the Spider-Man phase. Last year’s Christmas tree was fun and interactive, and a hard one to top. As luck would have it, we were cleaning out our old dress-up/costume bin the other day. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to all of E’s old princess dresses, as she’s both physically outgrown them and is also “so over that!” But, at the very bottom of the box, we found, of all things, a chicken costume.

I do not remember where this thing came from, although G seems to remember some sort of “dress like a farm animal” activity at some point, but it fits him and he had big plans as to how to incorporate a real, live chicken into the costume. Sadly, if that happens, it will be limited to trick or treat night, as the chicken is not going to school with him! I’m still holding out hope that maybe we can convince A to dress up as Colonel Sanders, but G is still under the impression that his chickens are “friends, not food.”

Fall also brings hunting season. While that’s a big yawn from me, the boys and the WH are quite excited by it. The boys have been out for archery, and G bagged a buck the first weekend. Hunting season always brings about an interesting sort of rivalry between the boys. A is quality over quantity, and G is quantity over quality. Case in point: G brought home an atypical 3-point buck on opening day. He was intrigued as much by the weirdness of its antlers as he was by the ability to bring something home on the first day. The WH warned him that once he shot his buck for the season, that was it, so he should think about holding out for a bigger one.

G was having none of that. He had the shot and took it. A, on the other hand, has had several small bucks in his sights, but he just knows there is a larger one out there, and he is waiting patiently.

Hunting season will bring us to Thanksgiving and the madness of Christmas. We’re still sorting out plans for the holidays. We have several bigger renovation projects to either wrap up or kick off over the downtime, and a few small trips and visits that we’re hoping to make. Just last week, probably while I was teetering on the roof, I realized that we haven’t painted the room where we’re planning to put the Christmas tree. The kids were roped into a massive cleaning and furniture moving effort on their Columbus Day holiday and now I’m trying to figure out which weekend I’m painting and which weekend I’m refinishing a floor.

Finally, my favorite thing about fall is the menu. My slow cooker gets a workout year-round, but during the hot summer months, it’s usually just for cooking chicken to add to a lighter, fresher dish. Now I can break out the hearty, heavy, comforting meals like pot roasts and stews. The coziness of coming home to a warm house that smells delicious and having a hot, steamy bowl of goodness on the table in a few minutes is one I can do every single day between now an April. By that time, most of the family will be sick of eating “food that’s all mush.” Not me, though. I’d be more than happy for it to be late October or early November all year-round.

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.