4 months

...till Halloween. 3 months till the first decoration goes out. 1 1/2 months till this year's decorations start hitting the stores.

6 Months Till Christmas

Another six months have passed, and now Christmas is only half a year away.  This Christmas, Baby Holidays will be around eight months old, and he, Mrs. Holidays, and I will be living at a place that will allow us to decorate outside.

Last year, we decorated the inside of our little apartment with a tree, wagon, Nativity set, and knick knacks. While we will once again decorate the inside of our abode, we will have a small front yard and large backyard patio to decorate as well.

This year, we will have a solitary cherry tree to decorate in the front yard. Lights, garland, ornaments, and small bells will likely be on the menu.

Last year, we started a new tradition to honor one of my late Mother's most precious short stories:  The Legend of Moses Claus. Moses Claus is a rooster who became the Santa Claus of the chicken world, and in the story, instead of being pulled in a sleigh, he is pulled in the 'Wagon of Christmas Cheer'. Not only will we decorate a wagon for the inside, I'm also thinking that we may purchase another wagon to decorate for the front yard. We could put it right under the cherry tree.

Another shot of the Wagon of Christmas Cheer

Finally, I'm thinking of hanging red luminary jars in the front yard and on the back patio. I would light these up in the evenings. On select days, I'm also thinking of playing Christmas music out through a window or from the front walkway, just loud enough for passerbys to hear.

The first decoration will go up the day after Thanksgiving, and as we've done for Halloween and Easter in years past, the decorations will build as the season goes along.  Apparently, the previous occupants were fanatical Christmas decorators, so we will have a lot to live up to.

Happy Halfway-to-Christmas!

Christmas Update Tomorrow

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First Day of Summer

We're now another season closer to Halloween and Christmas. And in five days, I will be discussing my initial vision for this year's Christmas display. Enjoy your summer solstice!

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Tuesday Morning

While Mother in Law Holidays graciously babysat Baby Holidays for 4 1/2 hours this afternoon, Mrs. Holidays and I got out and about. We happened to walk into a Tuesday Morning store, and much to our surprise, we left having purchased $5.90 of Halloween tree ornaments. What a bargain for all this cool stuff!

All but one of these ornaments will be hung from our two outdoor artificial trees. The black & white cat ornament will be an indoor decoration.

5 More Days, 10 More Days

5 more days till the first day of Summer, and 10 more days till my first 2012 Christmas update.

Halloween in Church

Found this delightful post over at Pumpkinrot. I really wish my church would do this too.

2 more months

...until Halloween decorations start hitting the stores.

Spider Webs

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of these ground webs on my morning walks with Baby Holidays.  Gives me an idea for this year's Halloween yard haunt.

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New Additions

While Mrs. Holidays and I were taking a walk through the neighborhood on Sunday, we noticed a family throwing out some old Halloween stuff on the curb for trash pickup.  We strolled over and lo and behold, there were 4 small tombstones and some black garland.  This brings our tombstone count to 16 for Spirit Grove II: an enchanted forest. I will also use the garland in the display.  Last year, Mother in Law Holidays found a mannequin in someone's trash pile, which we used as the enchantress for Spirit Grove I.

Halloween Tree

Maybe I'll have to end up going with purple lights on the two artificial trees in this year's yard haunt. Then, I could use the clear Bethlehem lights on the enchantress.  As a result, I or CFO Holidays wouldn't have to purchase any orange string lights. Originally, I was thinking of using all orange lights for Spirit Grove II: an enchanted forest, but these purple lights are striking, and we have purple-looking lights from Spirit Grove I.

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Theme Parks gearing up for Halloween 2012

Initial preparations have begun. Story here.