Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Halloween

Halloween Wreath

We didn't celebrate Halloween when I was growing up and I was quite unfamiliar with it, although I knew about All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2).  I first learned about Halloween only after I came to this country.  Now, however, it seems to be celebrated world wide.

I never really decorated or did anything special for Halloween until my daughter was born.  Even then, I wasn't planning to do anything special, but friends kept asking me what was daughter doing to be dressed as for Halloween, etc., and so, I got into the spirit of the occasion.  Daughter was a Jack-O-Lantern for her 1st Halloween, and looked very cute, if I say so myself.  :)  As she got older, I decorated more, with her help. 

Until the year my mother died.  Then, suddenly, all the ghosts and gravestones and R.I.P. signs just became a little too real a reminder of the actual death of a loved one, especially since Halloween is barely 2 weeks after my mother's birthday.  That year, I didn't decorate for Halloween.  I focused more on the Fall/harvest festival aspect of things and decorated for Thanksgiving.  Gradually, as daughter got older, I stopped decorating, altogether.  Last year, for example, she was in Berkeley on Halloween and so, I didn't bother to decorate.  The box marked "Halloween" has remained unopened in the garage for the past couple of Halloweens and I had been thinking of donating the items stored in there.

In fact, I had been getting away from decorating for most holidays.  But this year, after my cancer diagnosis, I've decided that I shall make the effort to decorate for all the holidays, again.  To celebrate the present, to celebrate the passing of the seasons, to celebrate all there is to celebrate in each year.



Table Runner and Jack-o-Lantern
So, today, I asked daughter to take down the box of Halloween decorations and we decorated.  We put the table runner I had sewn on the coffee table with daughter's first trick-or-treat Jack-o-Lantern bucket, bought for her 1st Halloween.

Close Up of Table Runner Fabric (needs ironing!)


We decorated the living room mantel with papier mache mini jack-o-lanterns (bought several years ago from the dollar store), a mug daughter had received as a gift with a straw scarecrow stuck in it, and her collection of characters from the anime Hamtaro which are all dressed in Halloween costumes (a one-time toy give away from a fast food place; we were allowed to buy them for $1 each).  My mother's pictures are on the mantel.

Living Room Mantel

The dining room was decorated with the wreath that I had made several years ago.  In previous years, the wreath hung outside, on the front door.  But this year, I decided to hang it inside the house.

Dining Room Decorations
The Jack-o-Lantern trick-or-treat bucket on the dining table was bought one Halloween when daughter was about 5 years old and forgot to take her 1st trick-or-treat bucket with her; we were on our way to trick-or-treat at her piano teacher's home and discovered we didn't have her bucket with her, so, made a stop at a grocery store and picked up this one.  

There's another bucket on the piano, in the living room, near the front door - these buckets will be filled with candy for handing out to trick-or-treaters, next week. 

As you can see, I've kept the theme to pumpkins, Jack-o-Lanterns, and scarecrows, rather than ghosts and gravestones.  More cute than scary, in my opinion.

Do you decorate for Halloween?  

12 comments:

  1. I usually put up some window clings, I just never got around to it this year. Of course decorations are basically just for myself and Little Wolf, we rarely have visitors and my house can't hardly be seen from the road. I did have every intention of putting them up, but eh.

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    1. Jess, you still have a few days until Halloween to decorate, if you'd like to. I think it still counts if you do it the day before or, even, the day of! :) Do it for yourself and Little Wolf, because you want to. I, too, decorate mostly for my daughter and myself. I'm not expecting anyone to come to my house to see the decorations (I didn't decorate the front garden, and no one can see my inside decorations from outside). Sometimes, it lifts our spirits to decorate for holidays and special occasions. :)

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  2. Bless, so happy your decorating for you and daughter..
    I don't really decorate for Halloween, but start in Oct, doing fall decorating.. Pumpkins and fall leaves. Like you, I don't like RIP /graves /ghost and goblins.ha
    Love that you kept daughters pumpkins all these years.. so special.

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    1. Judy, I really should get rid of the plastic trick-or-treat buckets. I am too sentimental and tend to find an excuse to keep everything! LOL.

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks, Carolyn! High praise, indeed, since you do such lovely decor yourself! :)

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  4. So glad all was okay with your daughter's apartment.
    I like your Hallowe'en decorations. Like you, we had not heard of Hallowe'en when we arrived over here, and I do not like the skeletons/graves, etc. Don't mind a few scarecrows and pumpkins, bats and spiders. No one comes to us as we are too out-of-the-way so I don't do much decorating but always have treats on hand just in case. DH is always happy to get into them, lol.
    Keep the plastic trick-or-treat buckets, decorations are a wonderful way to incorporate yesterday's happy memories into today's!
    Bushlady

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    1. Thank you, Bushlady. I am going to consult with daughter and see if we can give away two of the 3 buckets. But if she says to keep them, there's room for them in the large plastic storage box for them. :)

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  5. Until last year, the only Halloween decorating I did was a window cling of a black cat and moon. Even that was pretty recent for me - only in the past five years or so. I always decorated for fall, but not for Halloween. Last year I made myself a little Halloween village by painting Dollar Store Christmas houses and trees black and gray. It was cute and I enjoyed it. I had planned to add to it a bit this year, but that didn't happen. I found a cute black cat at the Dollar Store and then later a black and orange sparkly wreath for $6 at Michael's. Had planned to put them together to make a wreath, but with vacation and then coming home to a sick kitty I haven't gotten around to that either. Maybe tomorrow night I can make the wreath and enjoy for a couple of days.

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    1. Greta, hope you have time to make the wreath; sounds like a really cute idea. Hope your kitty will get well soon.

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  6. Hallowe'en has become a much bigger deal here, since I was growing up. It's not something I like or welcome... I find the whole concept of trick or treat materialistic and actually vaguely threatening. Still your decorations are very cheery. I have a couple of pumpkin tealights, and have carved a Jack O' Lantern once, the year I grew pumpkins!

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    1. Carving pumpkins is a fun activity, especially when they are your own homegrown pumpkins!

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