In Focus

I’m still mourning Halloween as Christmas decorations explode in my yard. Halloween is my favorite day of the year. I love all the spooky stuff—costumes, decorations, everything about it. I always feel a little sad once it’s over. I can almost hear the mayor from *The Nightmare Before Christmas* shouting, “Only 364 days until Halloween!”

With the light show, I usually wait until the first weekend after Halloween to take everything down and put up Christmas decorations. I just wasn’t expecting to have to do it the very next day. That was especially depressing for me. I love Christmas, don’t get me wrong, but it felt so wrong to replace my skeletons with Santas just hours after trick-or-treaters had run down the sidewalk.

Still, it had to be done before the weather turned colder and the ground froze. Sunday was particularly brutal with the wind. I ended up in snow pants and a winter jacket, which felt too hot, but anything lighter would have been too cold. There wasn’t a happy medium, but I was comfortable enough to get the yard decorating mostly finished.

I have a few items to fix. One of my spiral trees disintegrated—it’s bound to happen eventually. The weather is hard on everything. So, I’m making a new tree using the pole from the old one, along with a tomato cage and fencing. It might sound weird, but when you’re strapped for time and cash, you’ve got to make do with what you have. I think it might actually look better than some of the other trees in the yard.

I also have a giant Santa blow mold that I’m painting, plus I need to fix the lights on some props. Always check your lights before putting them up! I found that most of the lights for the roof line had burned out, so I had to purchase some new icicles. Sadly, Olaf won’t be out this year; he’s having trouble inflating, and I’m not sure if that motor is replaceable.

Even though the Christmas season is still weeks away, I’m nearing the finish line, and it will be ready in time for the show.

For now, the only thing lit up in the yard will be the inflatable turkey—’tis his season, after all!