It begins

I couldn't help myself...

...I got my Halloween decorations out this past weekend.  I know, I know...soooo early.  But I found out that one of my good friends/neighbor had already put up a few things...and I caved in to peer pressure.  :)  Before you judge me too harshly, I will clarify that I am only decorating the inside, not the out.  It is one thing to subject my family to early decorating, it is another thing entirely to subject innocent bystanders.  And I only did it early (yes I'm rationalizing) because I  knew that I could use the extra time.  It literally takes me about 2 to 3 weeks to put up all my Halloween decorations.  Not only because of the sheer number of decorations, but also because I have to squeeze it around normal life and its many responsibilities (if only Halloween decorating could be a job).  Last year I started decorating around the first day of fall, and I was still putting out decorations the week of Halloween.  That was incredibly depressing and so not worth it.  This year I want to ENJOY my decorations!  So sue me if I start early.

So my good-natured husband started the long process of dragging millions of boxes out of the crawl space.  I love to open those boxes and see them stuffed full of lovely decorating treats:

 The downside to starting so early is the confusion it creates for my young children.  My oldest asked me why no one else had their decorations out yet (um...no one else loves Halloween as much as us?).  And my oldest daughter keeps asking when its time to decorate Halloween sugar cookies and go trick-or-treating (er...not for a couple more weeks...er...months).  Needless to say it has created many awkward conversations with my kids.  Maybe next year we won't start quite so early.  But on the upside...they are learning delayed gratification, right?

All in all its been good decision.  With our crazy life it has been slow going, so I'm grateful for the extra head start.  Can't wait to share what we've done!

Here's to early decorating!