Halloween Decorations

Some of you may remember how much Oliver really loved all the Christmas decorations last year. I did not realize that he would get so into Halloween decorations, too. He loves driving around and seeing what other people put in their yards and on their windows. A few weeks ago he asked me why I hadn't set up any Halloween decorations at our house. I told him that he could make some himself, so he got right to it and started drawing pictures to hang up on our front windows and door. He was not super happy with them, though, and was really concerned that they might not show very well from the street. I wasn't sure why it really mattered.

Then last week we got a big pumpkin and made a jack-o-lantern, and each of the kids got a little mini pumpkin to decorate. Oliver was really excited, but to my surprise, he still did not seem content. He kept saying that people wouldn't see our pumpkin when they drove by. The next day he spent a lot of time out in the front yard, and I wasn't sure what he was doing. He asked me if he could move around some of the pumpkins, and I said okay. He went back out for awhile, but I still wasn't sure what was going on.

Then he came inside and sat down by me, kind of looking depressed. He said, 'Mom, is this ALL the Halloween decoration stuff we have? Like, is there any more in a box somewhere that I could use?' I didn't know what he was talking about, but told him that we didn't really have any Halloween stuff.

Finally I went outside to see what he had been up to. I started laughing as soon as I saw it. He had found a little bag that we got from a party that had little Halloween trinkets in it (straws, pencils, rings, finger puppets) and had set them up on the front porch and in the front yard. He had also moved the little pumpkins around so they would be more visible from the street. It was so cute to see that he had been trying to make our yard look presentable compared to our neighbors.

Poor kid. I know he was so frustrated that we only had little teeny things to set up. I felt so sad for him when I realized that that's why he had come in and asked if we had any more Halloween stuff - I think he knew that the things he was setting up weren't quite the same as 'real' Halloween decorations. Anyway, he has completely put himself in charge of the decorating job, and each day it looks a little different out there, as he struggles to come up with new arrangements that he feels will look okay. He always asks me, 'Do you think people can see it?' And I say they can. (I don't add that they might have to use binoculars.)

I took some pictures so you can see how funny it is - I don't know if you can tell the scale from the pictures, but these are seriously TINY decorations - there is a little ghost in front of our doormat, and it is only about a half inch taller than our doormat. Maybe you will understand Oliver's frustrations.