Tis' the Season

I held out as long as I could.  My need to decorate for the season had me bursting at the seams, but per request of Noah, I was holding out for an "appropriate" date.  As he stated, "Mom, you don't want to be one of those people who decorate too early!"  I don't?

After homework I called him out to the shed, filled his arms with a basket full of goodies, and we set out to spruce up the house.  Sadly, many of our favorite decorations did not make the cut for this year's display.  My favorite little scarecrow had seen better days, was missing an arm, and looked like he'd been partying in storage.  It left some holes in the yard but that just gives me a reason to go shopping!

I had hoped to find some beautiful mums bursting with color for the front steps this weekend, but none of them met my standards.  And even though we have two window boxes full of pumpkins, I want more.  I have a picture in my mind of the right size of pumpkins and blooming mums I want to display and will be on the lookout until we find each other.  If you see my truck come screeching to a halt in your town, you'll know I've spotted them.

Decorating with your child, when you have a slight case of OCD, is a funny thing to watch.  Inside, I'm thinking, "Don't put that there.  Move it up to the right a little bit."  Outside, I'm smiling and saying, "It looks great!"  It's a compromise.  We have a unique blend of country cute and frilly fall, mixed with spooky, scary, and creepy.  I get sweet little happy ghosts and Noah gets gruesome ghouls. 

And really I wouldn't have it any other way.  It's not perfect.  It won't be on the cover of Martha Stewart magazine.  But it's ours and it's beautiful to me.  Especially when I know there won't be many more years of this.  Soon my little guy will be all grown up and the lopsided pumpkin stickers on the door will be gone.  So I'm treasuring the hodge-podge Halloween on Hope Street this year and giving thanks for a ten year old who still wants to decorate with Mom.