My Decoration Confession

When the fall season comes around, I, like many of you, start gracing countertops and tables with mini pumpkins and corn bushels.  I start buying fresh flowers with deep reds, oranges, and yellows.  I fill little jars with colorful candy for a decorative splash of color.  I add satin fall leaves in just the right places (no real fall leaves here in Florida, they're all taken up north!).  

And of course, I hang a beautiful fall wreath on the door.  

When that all happens, fall is in my house!

But I have a decoration confession for you.  My favorite fall decoration that I do every year, is not gluten free...gasp!  And I can't help it.  Every year, I buy a big, beautiful bushel of wheat, fill up a big clear vase with popcorn kernels, and tie a colorful fall ribbon around it.  It's always one of the main decorations on my fall table.  Luckily, my gluten intolerance is only triggered when I eat gluten and not look at it...because it sure is so pretty!  And it's so simple too! 

Like many little girls, I grew up with the stories of Laura Ingalls and Anne Shirley.  So, I have always secretly wanted to live on a farm. You grow your own food and you have fresh eggs and fresh milk all the time.  That's my kind of place.  It's all about the food really.  

Well, I don't live on a farm, but my husband Patrick and I always joke about my annual wheat bushel that I "plant" every year.  So, the tradition goes, right after Thanksgiving when the transition from fall to winter is underway, Patrick has to harvest the wheat.  Hey, it's the closest thing to a farm as we can get!  I look forward to it every year!

But before the harvest, my most beautiful and most glutenous fall decoration graces our table.  And every once in a while I look at it and think about how the last 4 years on a gluten free diet has made my life so much better and healthier.  And I remember the overwhelming initial thoughts of what to make, how to make it, and who will like it.  

And now, when I look at my wheat bushel and think ahead to fall pies and Christmas baking, I smile, because I know, without a doubt, I can make fantastic food that everyone can enjoy, without it.  And I know, you can too! :)