We've Been Getting Ready for Halloween...

Can I just tell y'all how GLAD I am that this baby is coming during the holiday season? Let me explain - growing up, as soon as the leaves started to change, we started Gearing Up. Now, we liked holidays as much as the next sugared-up kids, but holidays in our house meant something special: Birthdays. Lots of birthdays. Starting on October 31, there was a party at least every two weeks, either for a holiday, or for a birthday.

Let me elaborate:

October 31- Halloween

November 5- Birthday

November 26 - BirthdayS (yes, more than one. :-))

November 27 - Thanksgiving

December 14 - Birthday

December 20 - Birthday

December 21 - Annual Carolling Party

December 24 - Christmas Eve

December 25 - Christmas

December 31 - New Years Eve

In fact, of the 7 members of my immedate family, only two birthdays didn't fall in November or December! When I got married, Lo Gung tried to bridge the gap with a Late Summer Birthday. BBJ did her part, as well, with a birthday in late September. Oh yeah - Lo Gung's sister (GuGu) also has a birthday in November.

Baby Boy fits nicely into the mix with a due date squarely between the two December birthdays in my family.

What does all this have to do with Halloween? Well, see...I live in New England now. The leaves here don't just "start to change"....they explode. The view off my back deck is a riot of green, gold, brown, crimson, red, fire-orange...and the deep, deep blue of the lake. (Don't even get me started on the view out my front window. I'm pretty sure I have a driveway under all those leaves, but I can't keep it swept clean long enough to really get a clear view!) With leaves that are this insistent, I can't just let the holidays creep up on us! Oh no, My Friends...we will have Decorations. We will have Treats. We will have Plans. Heck...we'll even go Leaf Peeping!

Thus far, we've celebrated the Autumn Season with apple picking, two Apple Cobblers, one Apple Cake, a Leaf Peeping Trip to see a Castle, and a Very Festive Front Window. BBJ and I had a lot of fun sitting down with our scissors, crayons and Costco-pack of construction paper and making some spooky decorations. In fact, they came out so fun, I think I'll laminate them and save them for next year! I'm thinking about making up a spiffed-up set for the Shoppe...what do you think?