The days cool to a lovely 80 degrees. Treetops slowly catch fire. “Punkins” line brick steps and front porches.

Halloween’s approach signals a start to the holiday season—even though scarecrows and skeletons began spooking the aisles of Walmart three months ago—and we Southerners know it’s time to flock to the nearest orchard to stock up on apples and punkins. However, while the rest of the country also celebrates this change in season, the South is deeply rooted in our own traditions.

It’s a fact that Southerners love to host a good party, and because of this, we know how to decorate. Not only do we know how to decorate, but we tend to take it to an entirely different level. Hours are spent perfecting the front porch alone.

When you’re inevitably invited onto someone’s porch, feel free to compliment their hard work, accept the sweet tea you’re offered, then glance up to the porch ceiling. There’s a good chance it’s “Haint Blue,” a soft blue-green color that has been popular for centuries in the South. Southern legends say haints are restless spirits of the dead still inhabiting this world. To stop these spirits from influencing or taking members of the household, porch ceilings and even door- and window-frames are painted haint blue. Around Halloween, you never know when this tradition of warding off evil may come in handy.

Along with decorating, folks in the South know how to cook, so naturally the holidays are filled with good food. Sweet potatoes, of course, are a Southern Thanksgiving specialty spreading around the nation: sweet potato pie, sweet potato cake, sweet potato fries, sweet potato casserole, even candied sweet potatoes. Almost 40% of American sweet potatoes are grown in North Carolina. Then there’s the obsession with pecans (pronounced: PEE-can, thank you very much). Around Thanksgiving, pecan pies, pecan bars, and pecan dressing adorn dining tables. (Remember: Down South, it’s called dressing, not stuffing. We’re not sure why, but that’s just the way it is.) Ambrosia, the glorified fruit salad, appears when Christmas begins to roll around. Emily Glaser from Porter Briggs says, ”Parfaits, puddings, and sugarplums all have their place on the tables of holiday feasts, but no dessert is quite as Christmas-y below the Mason-Dixon as ambrosia.”

However, the coconut in ambrosia is usually as close to snow as we can get. Most of the time, Christmas in the South is characterized by an abundance of family and friends, poinsettias, gift exchanges, and dead grass. Front yards turn prickly and various shades of yellow with no signs of snowfall. If a flake is spotted, local grocery stores are sold out of bread and milk by the end of the night. Folks panic. It’s like that scene from The Nightmare Before Christmas when Jack sees snow for the first time and sings “What’s This?”

But no matter what customs you follow in your family, the holiday season is best spent as just that—family. The focus on family is probably the most important tradition the South offers, because, after all, there’s no place like home for the holidays.