Fall in our house is a very exciting time. Not because the kids are back in school, football is plentiful, and there are more opportunities than ever to cook fantastic meals, but because holidays abound and I love to decorate the house. It all begins with Halloween. I pull out box after box of window clings, fake Styrofoam pumpkins, bowls, hanging spiders, ghastly candles… You name it, we got it.
But what I really love is decorating the outside of the house and the yard. Although we are most well-known in our neighborhood for our extreme Christmas decorating (It’s truly a Winter Wonderland that attracts a crowd of kids each night in December), we try to kick it off right in October with some not-so-spooky enhancements.
I’m always chomping at the bit to start decorating a few days before October, but this year we were on the cruise and I got a late start. As it turns out, it didn’t really matter because my spooky yard has been destroyed by two straight days of rain and insane wind.
All day Saturday, I made Colin position and stake down inflatables. He spent the whole afternoon running power cords and setting timers. I carefully hung all of my bats, spiders, and bat sconces then placed various pumpkins on the porch and stairs. It looked awesome.
Fast-forward to today and my two 12-foot-tall pumpkin stack and Frankenstein inflatables are lying in a heap in the bushes filled with water. Most of my bats and spiders are scattered around the front half-acre of our property. And enormous live oak limbs bigger than me are littering the driveway and landscaping. Oh, it’s scary all right. Scary that I have to go fix that mess.
Maybe we’ll turn it into a family activity. The boys are pretty good about helping if it involves being outside. Who am I kidding? There are puddles to be splashed in and mud to be stirred. Looks like I’ll be going it alone.
