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Beating the heat with pumpkin lights and scarecrows Saturday, Sep 8, 2007 By Micki Bare The grass died months ago from lack of rain. Some of the leaves have dulled and drifted to the ground. Summer's scorch has taken its toll on our yard. That is one of the reasons I went ahead and adorned the front porch with our autumn and Halloween decorations. With everything already taking on that dying, end-of-the-season look, what could it hurt to put out some festive orange and brown decorations? My children questioned the hanging of pumpkin lights from the roof of the front porch nearly two months before the actual holiday. "What about the stores?" I questioned them back. "I've seen a lot of Halloween, Thanksgiving and even Christmas items in the stores already. If they can decorate early, why can't I?" Eye rolls and head shakes were all I received from my boys as they headed back into the house where they could find solace from the heat. I continued hanging lights and my wreath - I was determined to finish decorating and get all the boxes back into the attic before our Labor Day grilled burger and all-the-fixings feast. When I borrowed Hubby's duct tape, he, too, questioned my early decorating. I was shocked that he didn't pick up on the urgency. "Have you seen your e-mail? I just sent you hundreds of calendar appointments: high school band activities, Junior American Legion baseball games, flag football practices and games, a book-signing, Dad's birthday, an art gallery reception ?" "Yes, Dear, I got all that. But couldn't we find any time closer to Oct. 31 to decorate?" Hubby seemed a little hesitant to follow my early decorating lead. But I knew that if I didn't get the decorating done on Labor Day, our only day off until mid-November, we would procrastinate until the very last minute. One year, after spending September and October telling myself we still had plenty of time, I woke up extra early on the morning of Oct. 30 to decorate before school drop-offs and work. Then, on my lunch hour, I headed to the grocery store to pick out a few pumpkins - one for each of the boys. But because it was so late in the season, the best I could do were two medium-sized odd-shaped yellow-orange pumpkins dotted with weird bumps. When my boys got home from school that day, they looked at the pathetic pumpkins and asked me why I didn't pick out real pumpkins, like the ones in the pumpkin patch on the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin television special. After waiting until the last minute, and then scrambling to put together a festive Halloween, I was faced with taking it all down and immediately putting out the Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations. Looking back, it seemed as if I'd spent three solid weeks putting up and taking down decorations. But I had to do it. My kids were still young enough for the guilt to be overwhelming if I didn't provide a magical and festive atmosphere. I could never let my kids grow up with a holiday memory that was void of decorations and tradition. Could you imagine my children telling my grandchildren about the year Grandma didn't even decorate? It could be the title of a scary holiday television special. There was one other motivating factor behind the early decorating. Hubby had just completed power-washing the house. He also cleaned the outdoor furniture, walkways and driveway. Everything looked squeaky clean. As a matter of fact, without the mildew, dirt and cobwebs we had grown accustomed to seeing outside our house, things looked somewhat bare. Something was needed. I thought a witch here and a goblin there, accented by a pumpkin or two, would work perfectly. And that's why, not long after posting all our fall activities on the family calendar while Hubby was power-washing everything in our cul-de-sac, I decided it was best to get an early start on fall decorating. And it worked out quite well. The weather was sunny, dry and warm, making the outdoor decorating a snap. When the decorating was complete, I stepped back to admire my handiwork. It looked like fall. It was nearly 90 degrees on the thermometer, and we were getting ready to fire up the grill to commemorate the end of summer. But as I gazed at our festive front porch, my heart was filled with crisp cool breezes, high school football games, gallons of hot chili, and little kids dressed in costumes giggling as they collected tons of candy. Putting up the Halloween decorations did so much to lift me out of the dog days of summer blues that I'm thinking of making it a Labor Day weekend tradition. ------- Micki Bare is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau and the Courier-Tribune in Asheboro, N.C., and author of the book, "Relative Expressions." She lives in Asheboro with her husband and three children. Her e-mail address is mickibare@inspiredscribe.com. |
