As I write this there are less than 100 days left until Christmas…and that’s frightening me. Not just because I need to get started on my holiday plans, but also because it’s officially the point in the year where days and weeks start flying by. From here on through the rest of the year, I usually feel like I’m grabbing at the side of a slide in a feeble attempt to make it all slow down just a bit.

In the heat of August, I dream of soaking up the changing leaves and cool evening bike rides, enjoying the lead up to Halloween and standing over a warm stove slowly stirring a pot of caramels for dipping apples. But then life takes over and the brain forgets every…single…pumpkin patch, corn maze, and caramel apple I had hoped to enjoy; then on October 30, I’m usually shoving those caramel nuggets in the microwave, desperate to rescue just one moment before Halloween is gone for another year.

Well not this year! Inspired by the brilliant mom-hack on page 11, there will be a seasonal bucket list posted in our house. We will fill it with the harvest festival at Littleton Museum (one of our favorites), a viewing of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mister Toad (a childhood favorite), a leaf-peeping hike, and, of course, apples dipped in caramel that was happily—and slowly—melted on the stove top. We’ll make a new tradition of posting a little photo next to each item completed.

If you want to start your own seasonal bucket list, our annual roundup of Halloween and Harvest Happenings is loaded with ideas. And don’t worry if you don’t get to it all this year, a new year filled with opportunities is just three months away.