This post is sponsored by Amazon.

It is no secret our holiday freak flag flaps high and wild above our home for all of the big calendar holidays as well as the lesser known ones because who doesn’t love a good National Pizza Day celebration? When it comes to celebrating special occasions, we are zesty; evident from a recent purchase of my favorite twinkle lights in which Amazon notified me, “You have purchased this item 9 times.” Our level 10 embrace of festivities ranges from twinkle lights and music to special recipes and cherished traditions and in no way involves pressure. We carve jack-o-lanterns and host Halloween movie night because we want to…because it’s fun.

Here’s where it gets fun–I married someone who loves holidays as much as I do. Brett, of course also loves techy things, gadgets and his beloved Amazon; and after my recent trip to New York to learn about all the amazing new ways Amazon Devices & Services are adding convenience and fun to family living, we gave our home a little device upgrade which in turn upgraded our holidays.

We’ve had an Amazon Echo in our home for several years, and we use it all the time–to play music, to answer questions, and (unbeknownst to me) to help with homework.  We just added an Echo Show to our kitchen, and it’s our new best friend. It does everything an Echo does and more, thanks to a vibrant 10″ HD screen (and the speakers are amazing–Brett was very impressed!).

While we were carving pumpkins, we asked Alexa for pumpkin recipes, and she pulled up the best recipes for pumpkin bread, pumpkin mousse, pumpkin scones–all the pumpkin things.

All our Amazon devices are synched, so we can pull up Amazon Prime Videos on our Echo Show as well…which allowed us to have It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown playing in the background while we removed stringy pumpkin guts and cut triangle eyes. All it took was a simple voice command: “Amazon, play It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” (we had already purchased it with Prime Video).

She named him Little Bob.

One of my favorite places to bring the holiday spirit is always my kids’ rooms though. I want them to grow up with memories of happy bedrooms and bedtime dance parties and festive little touches. Music is such a big part of our home, and we want it to extend beyond the speakers in the main rooms of our home, so the kids have the safe Echo Dot Kids Edition complete with parental controls and one year of kid-friendly content (including over 1,000 Audible books!).

What I didn’t discover until I went to New York was how you can program fun routines and blueprints for your family devices all from the Alexa app. We’ve been having so much fun with it for Halloween!

In the app, I created a Routine which allows you to select a command phrase (I did “Alexa, make it spooky”) and then set up as many actions as you like as a response to the phrase.

When the kids tell Alexa to make it spooky, “Monster Mash” automatically starts playing, and the lights in Nella’s room (equipped with Philips Hue Smart bulbs) turn a spooky red.

The kids squeal with delight and think everything is controlled by magic. “HOW DID SHE DO THAT?” Welcome to 2019, kids.

Halloween dance party follows, sometimes featuring special guests.

No one is more delighted by all this Alexa magic than Dash.

He changes the light colors all day, firing commands and then looking to the light and exclaiming awe when he sees it respond correctly.

This all has me so excited for Christmas! I love anything that brings fun to our festivities and makes our life a little easier.

I’ve been wanting to write this post for some time now, and it seems fall is the perfect invitation. I’ve expressed my love for the movie You’ve Got Mail many times before, but I know I’m not alone in my obsession–a fact proven by the 560 comments of favorite YGM movie quotes any time I initiate the conversation (there are SO. MANY, thank your). As dated as the Internet scenes are–chat rooms and dial-up connections–there is a certain timelessness about You’ve Got Mail that has prolonged its watch life into a classic many return to every year. The themes delight us–New York in the fall, charming store fronts, cozy apartments, children’s bookstores, saving a dying small town shop and ultimately falling in love; although I’ll admit the love part has nothing to do with YGM’s appeal to me. I think we all imagined being Kathleen Kelly, an image made lovely not just for her job, her heart and her home (okay her hair too), but enhanced greatly by her timeless style. Kathleen Kelly’s wardrobe was far more neutral than I usually wear, but there isn’t a piece she wore that I wouldn’t wear  and love today–and that’s saying something given that the movie was made 21 years ago.

Over the years, my sister and I have adopted “Kathleen Kelly” as an adjective to describe a particular outfit or home decor item, and it’s always taken as a compliment. So I thought it would be fun–especially after coming home from a New York in the Fall trip two weeks ago–to create 4 complete Kathleen Kelly looks with 9 pieces.

The props were easy–children’s books, pencils, laptop. :o)

What will NY152 wear today I wonder…

Want to create your own timeless Kathleen Kelly wardrobe? Have at it.

1. Ribbed Fitted Black Turtleneck – This Everlane one is perfection. Once the weather cools down here, it’s my go-to piece.

2. Shift Dress (to layer over the turtleneck) – This corduroy one from Oasis has several colors and is so deliciously New York in the Fall. Their belted check one is very Kathleen Kelly-esque as well.

3. Gray Turtleneck Sweater – this cozy knit Halogen one from Nordstrom is the perfect slim fit, not too bulky.

4. Structured White Button-up – There are a lot of linen, beachy boyfriend versions white button-ups out there, but the Kathleen Kelly white button-up is more structured–meant for layering and needs a good stiff collar. This straight-fit Banana Republic shirt is classic and works great under a black crewneck sleeveless sweater (channeling the “He couldn’t possibly be the rooftop killer!” scene).

5. Sleeveless Black Sweater – Layer this J Crew shell over the white-button up, and then head to Shop Around the Corner for story lady hour.

6. Black Tights – To pull off the Kathleen Kelly look, you’re going to need a good pair of black opaque tights –  These J Crew ones will last forever. I’ve also picked these Target tights in several colors, and they are great for the price.

7. Classic Loafers– They pair well with black tights.  These gorgeous black loafers are from And Other Stories. Or these heeled oxfords add a little height.

8. Black Pencil Skirt – this is the versatile piece–goes with all the above Kathleen Kelly shirts and sweaters. A black pencil skirt is timeless, so splurge on great quality like this one from J.Crew (wool blend). If you want something lighter weight, this inexpensive version from Banana Republic Factory is a great choice.

9. The perfect Kathleen Kelly pajamas – I bought these J Crew Factory pajamas (the price is right!) for my sister last year in a You’ve Got Mail themed gift and then bought a pair for myself this year. We call them the Kathleen Kelly pajamas because they so perfectly conjure up those cozy bedroom messaging-Joe-Fox scenes.

Not included but definitely worth pursuing: a twin set, the perfect khakis, a twirly skirt, ballet flats.

Here’s where fall has arrived here–taking the dog out in between my house and the neighbor’s house at 6:30 a.m.–before the sun rises when, if I close my eyes as the breeze sweeps in, I can imagine I’m in a Michigan apple orchard wearing the perfect cable knit sweater and not cowering in the one sliver of my yard where neighbors can’t see me in Brett’s Margaritaville t-shirt and my underwear.

I’m not complaining though because I’ve figured this out. While yes, there are some seasonal delights exclusive to location, the creative process of interpreting those delights is a delight itself as most creative processes are. So come fall, we create.

New games (an early morning round of toss-the-pumpkin)…

New rituals (coffee and news you can hold in your hand–news that isn’t pulled off social media!)…

New traditions (dress the dog like a human baby because he is a human baby).

We create cozy fall feelings with music and candles and cinnamon and clove scents, soup making, bread baking and huddling in bed at night to read stories of scarecrows that dance in moonlit fields and tiny mice that sip mugs of hot acorn coffee inside their tree stump homes.

We create excitement with lists we scrawl out on scraps of paper–lists of holiday ideas and recipes we want to try and items we need for the decorating idea we saw on Pinterest–lists we will likely lose before we need them, but it doesn’t really matter because there’s delight in the list making process.

We create wonder with twinkle lights, and memories with little check marks on our fall bucket list–the kitschy jack-o-lantern socks we bought that make us smile, the spooky stories we told on the moon walk, the cider and sugared donuts we made sure to have ready before Saturday morning because we wanted to check off that box.

We create adventure with spontaneous trips to explore our town…the food truck park we’ve been meaning to try…

…and a new fall pumpkin field that is not a church parking lot.

We create grace for ourselves when lists don’t get checked and kitchens don’t get cleaned and books don’t get read.

There is more time, more moments, more tomorrows, more opportunities, more delights, more creativity in store in the abundant heap of good that never runs out.

And when we trust that there is more, there’s less stress, less guilt, less trying to fit it all in.

Have a happy Wednesday full of delights to all of you!