I love decorating for Fall -- Fall being my very favorite season. I love pumpkins (not carved), the trees turning a riot of colors, leaves falling, a cornucopia of harvest, mums.
When my sons were little, I was way more into Halloween, of course. It was a very, very big deal. And I really loved it. I loved collecting a huge array of Halloween decorations and creating a cute/scary tableau every October. I still have a lot of the stuff in the attic in orange and black crates. I just don't get it out anymore. It's a lot of work. Hub doesn't care and doesn't notice. And while I have little grand girls, they are not here full time and I am. I'm the one who would decorate, look at, and put it all away. I'm just not that into the whole witches, Dracula, ghosts, Jack'O Lantern, black cat, big rat, hairy spider, cobwebby thing anymore.
But Angel was here last Saturday morning and I promised to take her to the Farmer's Market to choose a pumpkin for carving. She designed this cyclops woman (where that came from in her imagination I have no idea) and then I let her decorate our front porch. 
My only contribution was this disembodied arm hanging from the door knocker peephole. I get it out every Halloween; my one nod to the holiday in recent years. I like that it is sort of creepy and very easy to store and display.
Hub came home with a huge Costco-sized bag of candy yesterday. I have tried to hand out granola bars or fruit leather in recent years in an attempt to encourage healthy eating in the younger generation, but he goes for the Nestle Company (evil empire) Snickers, Twix, Reese's, M&M, etc mix. In spite of my resolve to not open it until the 31st, all Hub had to do was mention in passing something about how good a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup would taste during the 7th Inning Stretch of the Cubs v. Indians World Series game last night and I was into that bag like an addict scoring a hit of crack. Turns out those little candy bars are also a nice breakfast snack accompanied by a steaming cup of black coffee.
I will survive Halloween, though. I have to work too hard to overcome a sugar-binge these days. I've matured into decorating tastefully, not gaudily, and eating only a modicum of Halloween candy, not having to replace the empty bag before Halloween, as in years long past.
But if you care to stop by for a frightfully good time, I have set some Snickers aside which I can serve in a hollowed-out skull. Then we can hop on the scale for a truly terrifying adventure in self-recrimination. BOO!
At least, that's the view from here....©
