Happy October

October first- the day I start the Halloween decorating. The first day of bats, rats, witches, skeletons and all things ghoulish, spooky and bumpity in the night. I love Halloween- cobwebs are a good thing for once, I can indulge my inner witch and display witches hats and wands, little jars (they were baby food jars in a previous life) of things that may or may not be creepy. Lets face it- appearances and packaging can do quite a bit to sway our opinion. Little white ball cake decorations with black food coloring dots on them or newt eyes? Who can be sure???? Chocolate chips or newborn dragon droppings? This is a month when most people seem to avoid eating at my house- Hmmmmm, I wonder why. I love baby food jars for their many uses- all season decor and food storage.
I love Halloween for the amazing misunderstood pagan celebration of Samhain. I'm Celtic and many of the old festivals have been translated into today's holidays. There is no devil worship in Samhain- just good old spooky belief that it is the day when the veil between worlds is at it's thinnest and the final harvest is done along with preparations begun for the winter. There is a more in depth explanation at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain it's not great but it'll do for now. I'll celebrate Halloween with a party for some of the kids nearest and dearest and our friends. Hopefully there will be a nice day so we can start the bonfire and roast marshmallows and make s'mores, run around the yard and generally have fun with friends at the end of the outdoor party season. We will rake a big leaf pile and jump in, pick apples and dip them in caramel and make merry while the sun shines, for in this region who knows when the first snow storm will hit. I'm hoping for sometime after the 31st.
So I'm starting to get the old house in the Halloween mood- silhouettes of bats, rats and witches will adorn most windows, pumpkins on the porch steps, corn stalks on the porch rail, maybe some spider webs, unexpected guests in corners and who knows what else will pop into my odd little mind. Did I mention living by the cemetery? There is a house between me and it but they built way out back and so the only thing between me and the cemetery would be a driveway. I'm putting some gravestones in the front garden as well. Maybe a stray hand or foot with them as well as the cauldron of bones on the side porch. #1 is adamant that we decorate for every possible holiday. Do you know how hard it is to find decorations for all those secondary and tertiary holidays, like arbor day and groundhog day? I thought I liked to have a party but this kid should be an event planner. She also has no problem telling me she likes to arrange things so they look 'fabulous', as opposed to how they looked ("Ok") when I did them. My domain of decor is that which she cannot reach- which means it's getting smaller each year. Once it's more decorated I'll post some photos. We're still deciding costume details so I can't give any ideas about who to expect to see other than a witch. I may even be in costume ha ha ha ha.