These past two weeks, as I walk the dogs thru the hood, I’ve been loving the decorations that the neighbors are displaying in anticipation for Halloween. To celebrate the upcoming holiday, some front yards are decorated scary. Some are cute. Some are both scary and cute which is confusing but still awesome. I see blow up Draculas and ghosts and skeletons galore. It’s quite charming to see everyone getting into the spirit for this candy-filled holiday.

Today I went thru the blog to check out some of the Halloween themed posts that I wrote. Now I’m in a semi-Halloween mood (it’s a little too early to be 100% in the mood). Maybe others could use a little celebration nudge and one of these posts could do the trick:

• 6 Freaky Questions About Halloween

• It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like…

• Knock, Knock

• How to Sail thru a Sale

• Sweet vs Sweet

• Trick or Pinch

• Pumpkins Etc.

• The Million Dollar Piano Recital

• Smell My Feet

The blog today is about Halloween but not really. It’s about getting into the spirit of a holiday. It could be for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Ground Hog’s Day etc. Just kidding about the last holiday. The holidays that I mentioned are the big money makers for retail stores and we as consumers, love to get sucked in. I am the target audience; the one who wants to buy everything to fully celebrate all of those holidays. I love paper products: plates, napkins, straws - I’m in! I love ceramic tchotchkes and doodads that ooze with holiday themes. I am a sucker for holiday decor and I fully own that.

However, there is a big problem with this love affair of all things holiday: I don’t know how to display it in my house. This is the first time I’ve lived in a home that is professionally decorated. And let’s be fully transparent, I don’t want my house to look like it’s confused - like our neighborhood yards that are decorated both cute and scary for Halloween. In years past, when my house didn’t have any rhyme or reason to it and my kids were little, I put decorations all over the house; making it as fun as possible. Today, as I unloaded the bins of my Halloween decorations, I found myself not wanting to put most of the items out. And if I did want them out, where would I put them?

My kids are older and they could care less if I put out any decorations so all of this is for me. But is it for me? I like to think of holiday decorations in someone’s home as thoughtful pinches for any of us who come over - it could be invited guests, those unexpected pop up visits, contractors - just anyone who comes into the house. A holiday decorated house offers warmth, comfort and hospitality. At least that is what I tell myself when I buy all that candy for Halloween; in case we have company that may need a candy bar or three. Wink, Wink. It’s far from being an obligation but I do think that it is thoughtful to have some holiday cheer in the house and I struggle with how to do this. For any of the retail holidays mentioned above, there are three ways one can decorate:

1. Being bold. This is when we go “all in” with our decorations. For example, I stayed with the Capers one holiday and their entire guest bedroom and bathroom were over the top decorated for Christmas. The sheets, pillows, towels, candy dishes by the bedside with Christmas themed candy, pictures in picture frames were all winter themed, candles with winter fragrance. It was the coolest thing I ever saw in person. I mean, we see rooms like this in catalogs and we think - that’s cute - but I’ve never seen a room like that in person.

2. Toeing the line. This is when we apply splashes of the holiday theme around the house to let others know that we know that the holiday is coming up and we acknowledge the importance of celebrating it. Maybe a skeleton in the yard and a Halloween-themed kitchen towel.

3. Not falling for it. We spent a lot of time, effort and money to get our home to look perfect. We will keep our everyday home decor as is and we are not going to worry that other people will think we are anti-holiday fans just because we didn’t decorate. Buying candy for the trick or treaters is plenty celebratory enough for us.

So what I’m getting at is that I don’t know how to keep my love for holiday decor alive while at the same time not overpower the super chill vibe of my everyday home decor. I don’t like clutter because it does the opposite of calm me down. My decorating style is #2. But if I could figure out a way to get Halloween bedsheets, tombstones in my yard and spider webs all over my house I think it would be fun. With that being said, I think the effort is a lot for me these days so maybe next year. Which is exactly what I said to myself last year. This bothers me because I also think that even though the kids don’t care, the absence of holiday hoopla is noticed. I feel guilty because one of my goals is to help create many positive family memories and I do believe holidays are a big part of that. I want to know:

1. How many of us decorate for the holidays? And if so, are we a #1 or #2?

2. Whatever decorating style we are, do we do this for ourselves, for others or both?

3. Does it bug us that holiday decorations clash with our every day home decor or do we fully embrace the holiday spirit?

4. Lastly, how many days in advance do you decorate prior to the holiday and how long do you keep up the decorations after the holiday passes?

I know many don’t really think about these things too much but I do because I love holidays and I love being festive. To me, decor is a big part of being festive and there is thoughtfulness that goes into the gesture of putting up decorations (or not). Getting into the holiday spirit goes a long way when creating lasting memories and isn’t that why we celebrate these holidays, for the memories?

Pinches,

Barb