Frou, I figure if I'm going to go to all the work of decorating, I want to enjoy it for a few weeks at least. When I pack up the Halloween things, I'll add some Fall/Thanksgiving things. Can hardly wait because that means all my acorn goodies get to come into the lime light! Jaybird, I agree that it is fun to share things with others and know we have "twin" items in our homes across the miles! ;o) Thank you Nana, I'm glad you thought they were fun--that's my whole reason for doing it. ;o) Luvs

The party was a hit and so was my costume! We only made the deviled eggs and some Trick Or Treat Punch (frozen lemonade concentrate, orange powdered drink mix, and ginger ale and we cut up an orange to add to the pitcher). All the other food was delicious and a good time was had by all. Two of our guests didn't show up, but still it was a good time just catching up with old friends and got to meet some new people as well. Stay tuned for when I post pictures of me in costume! Brad AKA Moonwolf

Sorry that I didn't get back earlier to say thank you and to answer a couple of questions. DH & I spent yesterday at one of our favorite big annual art shows. By the time we got home, I was exhausted . . . but very happy. Anyhoo, thanks for your kind comments on my Halloween decs. Yayagal: sadly we don't get any trick-or-treaters here. We live in a mountain community with no sidewalks or streetlights, and with bears, mountain lions, bobcats and coyotes who wander around here at night. So my decs are just for us and any friends we invite over for dinner, etc. Madeyna: thanks! Luckygal: you sound like me with all your bins for every holiday (LOL!) Katrina, Fun & Anele: thank you! Marti8a: no, the scarecrow dec doesn't light up. It's one of many ceramic pieces I painted years ago. As for where I store them the rest of the year, our home is a one-story, all adobe hacienda. Houses out here, including ours, rarely have attics or basements. So, when we had this place built, we had a large storeroom (and a cedar closet) built in our big attached garage. I store them all in there, mainly in large stacking bins. Lynn

We had our usual few shows. The interest has been dropping over the years even though there is an ample supply of children near our house. 15 years ago, we had an opposite problem: professional visitors! There were a few familes from a large city one county away who 'raided' the better suburbs for candy and treats. It was the accompaning adult's goal to collect as much loot as possible, then take it home to meter it out in lunches or fence the goods in their neignborhood. We did have a cute pair of boys, possibly a brother team. One was dressed as a gangster. He held a toy gun to his smaller partner's head and said, "Give us candy or he gets it!"