October 1, 2014 – It’s October 1. Technically, I can now admit that my living room has looked like a Halloween party since September 12, but you and I are past all that, right? After all, the wind already shifted for many of us. Today, more people start detecting that shift, and it’ll keep growing until Halloween itself when we’re all driven gloriously mad by that wind.
For those of us who start celebrating the Halloween Season early, decorations are vital. A living room bestrewn with paper bats and skeletons, scented by pumpkin spice and mulled cider candles, lighted by the electric and flame twinklings in the eyes of ceramic jack-o-lanterns and ghosts, will be our only controlled Halloween environment for weeks. Here, we don’t have to worry about the random hot days of September that weigh down our spirits. Here, we don’t have to worry about those strange people who bemoan the end of summer looking at us weird because we’re excited by it. Heck, a decorated living room is vital later in the season as well, as we don’t have to worry about crowds gunking up all the Halloween activities and stores moving Christmas merchandise too early.
In our living dead room, it’s always the perfect level of Halloween.
And that’s good. Because here is where most of our Halloween activities will happen. Here is where we bloat ourselves on Halloween candy and cookies. Here is where we experiment with new seasonal cocktails. Here is where we watch our horror movies and Halloween specials. Here is where we sit waiting for the trick-or-treaters to arrive on that same glorious, maddening wind.
And here are pictures of where I’ve celebrated 75% of the 2014 Halloween Season so far. That percentage won’t change…unless it goes up.
By the way, most of the skeletons, man and animal, that you see in our living dead room are courtesy of these guys. We're going to have a lot of fun with them later.
