We Kind of Look Like Losers

My son has decided we need to put up some Halloween decorations.   He’s liked Halloween since he figured out there was candy but as he’s gotten older he’s gotten more into the costumes and recently into the decorations.  

Last year he wanted to help decorate for Halloween.   This year he asked me before October even began if we could put some decorations out.   I told him after school we’d get some things down from the attic and every day we’d add a little bit more to our decorations.  

We have a lot of things in the Halloween section of our attic because friends of ours took their house on the road in a forty-five foot rig and had to abandon most of their belongings so they could wedge into a much smaller living space.   We were the recipients of the Halloween collection.

So each year we figure out what and where to put things and I’d told my son we’d get started soon.     Yesterday on the way home from school I think my son had had enough because he was looking around at the neighbor’s houses, many of whom are already fully decked out for the season of horror and sugar and told me, “we kind of look like losers”.  

And we can’t have that.   So we got some boxes down and my son ran around and randomly placed things in locations that made no sense, but made him happy nonetheless.    I sent him outside with a step ladder and some ghosts to hang from the tree in the front yard and he got the neighbor’s children involved.

I came up from downstairs to hear my son explaining to the other children about this one tree ghost (a piece of white plastic with newspaper inside it, tied at the bottom to look like a ghost) that this ghost was special.    He tied the ghost to a lamp in the living room and proclaimed, “this is the Greeting Ghost”.

Tomorrow he wants to put out more decorations.    I think he is more enthusiastic about Halloween than any other holiday.

The Big Boy Update:  My son had some stomach cramps earlier today.   He had been sitting on the toilet in our powder room for a while.   I came in and asked him what he was thinking about.   He pointed directly in front of him and said, “I was distracted by that”.    I told him that piece of artwork was named, “Spooner” after Gramps and it was created by one of our friends.   I told him that to create it she had taken all the fun things gramps had given her and made them into a colorful, three-dimensional piece of art.   And get this—she hadn’t thought the piece of art was cool, I told my son.   He asked me about the different keys and transistors and knobs and buttons and things I don’t even know how to describe and wanted to know where Gramps found them.   I told him I didn’t know but weren’t we glad our friend Beth had made them into this piece of art?   He agreed.   He and I decided “Spooner” is definitely cool.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Sometimes we get excited when my daughter can see things.   We learn not to get too excited though because sometimes it’s via other senses and not sight that she knows something, but I’ll remain hopeful and keep an open mind that some of it could be visual.    We were pulling into the driveway yesterday when my daughter asked, “why aren’t there berries on the bushes anymore?”   There are two large bushes on either side of the driveway that are at times laden down with red berries.   Did she see the lack of red?   She was correct, there were no berries.

Three Walking Miles:  not much exercise but the weather was clement and the conversation was good, as always.