Halloween Decorating

"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October."
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

I love the fall season. I think it really started when I was a young newlywed living in Provo Utah. I can remember streets lined with trees that were loaded with beautiful leaves in deep reds, oranges and yellows. The mountains were no longer green but dotted with these same beautiful colors. The temperature would cool off and the air was crisp and seemed to have a different smell to it. We would often take Sunday afternoon drives up the canyon to take in all the beauty of the season. Now back to today. In California we don't get the same kind of autumn as we had in Provo. It can still be a lovely time of year here and we do have trees changing and fall flowers blooming and the sky seems a bit bluer than usual and the light just has a golden glow to it. I have always loved decorating my home for fall. Maybe it is my way of trying to recreate the season like it was in Provo. Thus the fall colors in my dinning room. (oops slightly over exposed).

I usually decorate with fall items that will last for Halloween and Thanksgiving. This year I decided to do a little extra Halloween decoration on my entry table. This is what I came up with. I just used things that I already had around the house along with a few small things I picked up at the store.

This is my most treasured Halloween decoration ever. This little wooden haunted house was given to me by my brother and his wife. Troy made this himself. Isn't it amazing. I Loooove it!

These are not real pumpkins. The clown hat and crown that they wear were birthday presents from my mother in law. I think they are charming.

The ribbon and stickers are Martha Stewart. The rest of the stuff I had. Well ok, not the chocolate eyeballs.

The ostrich feathers were given to me a few years ago from my Mom. The urn they are in was from the clearance isle at Michaels. I think it would look even better with some black sticks, sticking straight up out of it but I haven't been able to find any.

I don't think I even decorated for Halloween last year. This year with my new found time, now that I am not working, I was a bit more motivated. After I finished I thought it may have been a silly waste of time but then Dani came home from school and was excited about my little apothecary of poisonous candy.

Do you decorate for Fall. How about Halloween? What is your favorite item?

Finally if you can't bring yourself to bother with the decorating then my advice is just invest in a yummy smelling fall scented candle to give that cozy feeling and also spend some time outside and enjoy the beauty.

p.s. clip art from mo jackson doo dads