Halloween

Halloween is my absolute favorite time of year.  I remember how excited I was as a child to get dressed up in a Ben Cooper's Casper the ghost plastic costume or tweety bird costume.   Every year, I started planning my costume in July-whether it was a wicked witch, Madonna, or Bloody Mary herself.  I couldn't wait for the first fall leaf to fall because I knew that meant Children of the Corn would be on TV, caramel corn would be made, and my Dad would be planning the family trip to a Haunted House (where I made sure I wasn't scared, even when I was, so my parents knew I was tough enough to handle that crazy guy with the chainsaw).  Needless to say, when I got older(growing up is still a work in progress), I still became excited for Halloween and Fall weather.   After I married and we bought the house, I let my crazy decorating alter-ego come out.   My crazy Halloween decorating started in 2005 when we added the cemetery, coffin, and mannequins to our yard.  Each year after we started planning in June to add additional props and displays to our yard.   Now that I have turned 40, and maybe because I am starting to 'grow up', I have decided to downsize slightly the yard decorations.  I am beginning to focus more on the details of a few displays and more authenticity-kind of the 'less is more' idea.  This year I really focused on making a Witches' Altar in my bay window.  Here are a few pictures from this year's display.