Another Successful Halloween

Halloween 2015 has come and gone. This year my decorations were more elaborate than in years past. I had ten glass jars with candles on the stairs leading to my front porch, a bat cave pumpkin, a mummy cat skeleton, a die hard Bruins fan, a new "Happy Halloween" sign, and two little ceramic jack-o-lanterns. I even decorated the stock pot (used to hold the candy) with a jack-o-lantern face.

The Halloween Cat Committee of Neo and Murphy inspecting the pumpkin prior to carving

We had plenty of trick-or-treaters to eat up our candy. I overbought this year, expecting a bigger turn out than we actually had. I purchased roughly 8-10 pounds of candy, and I have about 4 pounds leftover. Candy Capacity Planning is always the unknown factor each Halloween. Also, we've moved so much in the past five years that I've never been able to get into a rhythm of knowing how many kids will show up. 

Neo says, "Nice pumpkin, mom!"

My favorite costume last night was a little boy dressed as a lion. The costume was absolutely adorable, and it reminded me of my leopard costume when I was a kid (which I wore year after year until it didn't fit anymore). Also, I'm a sucker for cats...what can I say?

Spooky mummy cat. I used tiny flashlights inside the rib cage to make him glow.

This year I had the extra blessing of two black cats. Murphy joined us this summer (the joke is he sought me out because I have "cat sucker" tattooed on my forehead), and he played the role of door greeter. We did not let either Neo or Murphy out most of the evening since Halloween is one of the most dangerous times for black cats. Neo was happy to stay inside on the warm couch and occasionally walk to the door to see what was going on. Murphy was a bit perplexed why I wouldn't let him go outside. Up to that point, I'd always let him out when he asked! My husband had the very important task of holding him every time I opened the porch door to greet kids. The kids and teenagers delighted in Murphy and Neo's je ne sais quoi. One girl even asked if she could have Murphy. I immediately said "no, he's my boy", so she and her friends settled for a quick pet. Our third cat, Ixie was safe and sound asleep in our bedroom. She does not care for this holiday. Thanksgiving is more her style.

Murphy says, "I got this mom. This pumpkin carving stuff comes naturally for me."

The decorations were much more involved this year. I spent about two weeks getting ready, and for the second year in a row, I had an injured arm which prevented me from doing any elaborate pumpkin carving (last year for Halloween, I tripped over Neo and had to do simple carvings on my pumpkins). That's where the idea of a bat cave came from. All I had to do was carve a "cave opening" which was a simple saw-tooth pattern. No small details and no difficult cuts to make. I also had to deal with a pumpkin that was going soft on the bottom. Thankfully it lasted long enough for me to get through Halloween. I purchased some LED candles that changed colors, and some with the traditional candle "flicker". My original plan was two bats hanging inside the pumpkin cave and the rest flying out of the cave. When I hung the two bats in the cave, you really couldn't see them. So my husband helped me shift gears, and we hung those two bats near our die hard Bruins fan. We were able to set up the rest of the bats so they looked like they were flying out of the pumpkin cave. 

Bats flying out of the pumpkin. We lit them with special flashlights.

Bat emerging from the pumpkin cave.

I probably spent about twenty hours more on decorations this year than in previous years. Having a studio in my home gives me the time and space needed for such a project. One of my favorite decorations was the treatment I gave our skeleton this year. He was a "die hard Bruins fan", complete with rally sign, Bruins sweater, Bruins pants, and black/gold wig. 

My die hard Bruins fan. And the Bruins won Halloween night!

The wig is handmade from yellow yarn and black yarn.

All in all, Halloween this year was fun and successful. The weather totally cooperated (no wind, temps in the high 40s, and no rain). People got a kick out of our decorations, and we had plenty of visitors. Murphy wasn't happy about being pent up in the house and porch, but he did get to go out after most of the hoopla had tapered off. This morning he is resting comfortably. Neo is also napping; he loves Halloween but also needs his beauty sleep. Ixie is just happy all those strangely dressed people have gone home. She is dreaming of turkey and dressing and ham and.......

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz