What Makes This Season Special?
Whether they’re baking bread or decorating homes, Bergen families find perfect ways to make memories every autumn.
There’s something about fall that makes us want to slow down, gather together and do the things we’ve been doing year after year. Maybe it’s a Saturday spent apple picking, a kitchen filled with the smell of something baking or the annual debate over exactly when it’s acceptable to put out the Halloween décor. (For the record, we’re not judging.)
The best fall traditions aren’t necessarily the biggest or fanciest—they’re the little rituals that bring family and friends together and somehow become part of the fabric of our lives. Some are passed down through generations, while others are brand-new traditions in the making, but they all have one thing in common: They give us something to look forward to every autumn.
We asked our readers to share the fall family traditions they cherish most. Below are just two of our favorites. To read more of your traditions, be sure to read the September issue of BERGEN.
Beyond Stranger Things, David Carota, 44, Fair Lawn
“I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but I’m planning something different this year. The tradition began when my daughter was in preschool. My wife came home one day and said she had signed my name up on a list of parents to do a Halloween ‘trunk-or-treat’ decorating contest. I’d never done one. But I’m a handyman by trade, so I happen to have a pickup truck, and I thought, ‘Technically the back of my truck is my trunk, so why don’t I build some ridiculous, elaborate thing?’…(Later,) I just put them on the front lawn, and we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. By the time I came home, half the neighborhood was taking pictures with my stuff. I was like, ‘All right, I guess I got something here, so let me mull it over and figure out what to do next season.’ We thought, ‘Instead of doing something gory for the lawn, why don’t we do the Stranger Things theme?’
Pumpkin sauce & fettuccine, Josephine Celentano, 87, Wyckoff
“I make pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie and a pumpkin dump cake. I like to decorate the restaurant [Sal’s Good Eats in Teterboro, owned by her sons] and love to decorate my apartment. Also, I make a very traditional Neapolitan dish, which is fettuccine with pumpkin sauce. It’s one of my children’s favorites, and I only make it once a year. I get real pumpkins, usually in a farm store. They sell it in pieces and cut into small chunks. What I do is olive oil, lots of garlic and soy sauce until it’s just golden—not burnt—and then caramelize the pumpkin till it gets a little soft. All of it is covered with olive oil and garlic; then I cover that with chicken stock or water and let it cook till it gets soft, almost like baby food. Then put fresh parsley and hot pepper (flakes) and serve it over fettuccine. Everything must be fresh.”
Do you have a favorite fall tradition? Tell us about it on Instagram @bergenmagnj.
