Halloween Webs

Image by Chris Barrus.

Porch Decorations

Started the first phase of the porch decor yesterday after work.  We drank pumpkin beer and listened to spooky tunes.  And a neighborhood Halloween cat even stopped by to check it all out.

Orange And Green

Perfect together.

Image by Orland Park Birdie Girl.

Hot Chocolate And Gingerbread

Nibble, nibble, little mouse,

Who is nibbling at my house?

Sure, it's a Halloween blog, but Christmas has historically been known as a time for some side-creepy...

We visited Peddler's Village last night and enjoyed the lights as we sipped some incredible hot chocolate (with peppermint vodka) from the Hewn Distillery.  Highly recommend their cocktails if you're ever up there.

They have an annual Gingerbread House contest too, so I tried to take some creepier shots (but kinda failed miserably).  

Autumn Porch

Porch Decor

Starting to see some nice decorations in the neighborhood.  Lots of Ghouls and spider webs (and the big furry spiders who made them).  We're the first with string lights on the block.  Hopefully it starts to spread.  

A Lambertville Halloween: Part II

100 days until Halloween...

In this blog post from June, I talked about a trip to Lambertville, New Jersey in late October.  We discovered that Halloween Town was a real place, where the High Holiday was being celebrated everywhere you looked.  After a packed day of slowly working our way to see the Lambertville Halloween House, we stopped at a small local tavern to wait for the sun to set so we could see the House in all of its glowing glory.  We quickly dubbed the tavern the Halloween III Bar, as it felt like we could bump into Dr. Challis at any minute ('Drinking and Doctoring' was kindof his thing).

This bar was amazing.  Quaint and Old School and decked out in so many wonderful Halloween decorations.  Classic Halloween decorations... stuff I remembered from my childhood.  This was the Friday before Halloween so the atmosphere in there was exactly like a Halloween party.  They were playing all of the usual classics as well and The Monster Mash never sounded so good.  We drank our drinks and wondered what it'd be like a few blocks away at that strange, elegant House.

As we walked out into the chilly Autumn air, you could tell something significant was happening.  The night air was charged with a feeling that we had somehow mixed up the dates and this was, in fact, Halloween night.  It felt like prime Trick-or-Treating hours... there were children in costumes and excited people everywhere heading in the direction of the House.  But then we noticed that the Lambertville Halloween House was just a voice in a choir.  There were blocks and blocks of decorated homes.  So many lights.  Tons of unique decor and props.  So much Halloween.

We asked a resident walking her dog if this is how it always was...and if the town was heavily into Christmas as much as Halloween.  Her answer was a little on the glorious side:  she said "We really just get into Halloween here...  Christmas, not so much." 

Amazing.  A town devoted to the Love of Halloween.

Below are some photos from that magical evening.  A night that made you feel like a kid on Halloween... excited that there were hours ahead of you, and there were tons of homes waiting for you.  Homes with pumpkins and witches and ghosts and bones and every haunted creepy thing.  And on this one night, they really didn't care that it wasn't Halloween just yet.