Decorating Season

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that decorating season has officially begun around here and promised pictures. Well...we've been very busy and those pictures haven't happened. But...I taught last night, and the rest of my day was spent working on a revise and resubmit. Neither of those make for very good pictures or interesting stories, unless you really want to see me pulling my hair out and saying not nice things to editors who can't make up their minds (one person loves what the next guy hates). So...I thought I would deliver on my promise today.

Fall starts what I like to call decorating season and what Brad calls hauling junk in and out of the attic season. I love decorating for all the holidays, and while Halloween is not my favorite, it is the first one we can decorate for, which makes it fun. My favorite part of the decorating is remembering where each item came from and the story behind it, and Issa was very excited to help tell Evan the stories this year. That's why I do it.

Our decorating starts at the front door:
Sleepy the Scarecrow is actually Sleepy II. The first one came from our very first trip to the pumpkin patch with Issa when she was barely a month old. The replacement came from the pumpkin patch again when Sleepy I started to look scary--and not in a good way.

Just inside the door, we continue the decorating:

Grandma and Becca sent this basket to me my first Halloween in college. It was a candy dish then; now it catches keys in its web.

This little lovely I wouldn't mind "losing," but Issa loves it. Every year, our neighborhood does a "You've Been Booed" game. A neighbor drops a basket of Halloween goodies on your porch, rings the doorbell, and runs! You then hang an "I've Been Booed!" sign on your door and make a basket for two other neighbors. It is so fun to see the signs spread up and down the street! This was one of the treasures from last year.

This little guy scares away gremlins from our phone:

And I just love the mantle; I smile every time I see it:

These pumpkins are a collection from college, Boo Baskets, school crafts, my mother-in-law, and Gram. The little pumpkins that Gram made are my favorite, and I love seeing a whole collection of memories every time I look up.

These are a new addition:

Issa did this all by herself this week.

Even Bow gets in the spirit:

We have Halloween coffee mugs, and Evan made this little haunted house last year at school:

It makes me smile every morning when I reach for my coffee.

Spider Friend always lives here:

He is the one decoration I can't remember the story behind! It's so annoying, but Evan laughs every day after school when he sees him up there.

We have Halloween art supplies:

And my very, very favorite decoration:

Gram made this witch, and I remember it coming out and sitting on this very table every year when I was growing up. I think I'm the only one (on the planet) who loves this witch, but she's my favorite. (And yes, Issa's stereo is now on the landing. She discovered we can hear her music throughout the house if it's there. Yes...we could just play it in the stereo downstairs, but where is the fun in that? Some battles are just not worth fighting.)

Evan has his trick-or-treat bag on his door:

The little bear is from Issa's first Halloween. I had a moment of weakness at Starbucks. It happens.

This giant pumpkin migrates around Issa's room:

Gram won him as a bridge prize, and he used to sit at the foot of her banister. Squish is very well-loved at our house.

And further proof I have the sweetest daughter on earth:

She realized our bedroom was the only room without a decoration--voila! She solved that problem. It will be packed away just as carefully as all of the other decorations.

And this concludes the tour. Some might say we have a few too many decorations (and one of those some lives here), but I think there is no such thing...and perhaps I just figured out where Issa's sense of "there's no such thing as too much sparkle" comes from. Hmmm....