Enjoying My Halloween Decorating Queen - Time Out #267

Today we celebrate Halloween, always one of my all-time favorite days on our calendar.

It is also the day our granddaughter, Maya, celebrates her 11th birthday, and my excellent office employee/friend, Paula, celebrates her annual day. Two days from now, my bride, Ms. Debbie, celebrates her birthday, and as recognition of her special day, this weekly installment spotlights one of her many talents, the art of decorating. She has never had any formal education or training in decorating; she merely possesses lots of God-given ability.

Everyone has certain individual strengths, and, thus, my lady has several "keepers". The particular one I will discuss today is her absolute ability to decorate, whatever the occasion. She's the one to enlist when wrapping a gift, fixing up the inside and/or outside of a home, transforming an office in a special way, or surprising someone by decorating a venue for recognizing a birthday, anniversary, retirement, etc.

I have been dazzled by her creative decorating abilities now for over 40 years, and counting.

It all began for me when we lived in the Greater San Diego area in the late 1970's, a destination where our two homes were always turned into a Christmas Wonderland. Of course, our small children absolutely loved the colorful decorations! Once her holiday decorations were set up inside our place. our little people were constantly looking for Santa Claus to make his yearly appearance. I learned early on in our relationship, everywhere we traveled, my bride was drawn to visit Christmas stores. She has always enjoyed searching for new, colorful decorations for her to use when the calendar moves past Thanksgiving. In the fall run-up to the Christmas season, my bride always decorated our surroundings. first for Halloween. and, quickly followed, for Thanksgiving!

Our home would, also, routinely be decorated magically for Easter, and then for our nation's Independence Day.

When we moved to Stillwater in September, 1981, Ms. Debbie's decorating activities went into overdrive. For every-day living, our residence was made comfortable and practical, since our 3 growing children spent their entire Stillwater Public School years under one roof. Her furniture arrangements always seemed to make good practical sense for our close-knit family of 5. Holiday decorating regularly took our home's appearance to a higher level. Our children's friends enjoyed visiting our place to marvel at the Santa's Workshop appearance Lady Debbie had created. Heck, in my attempt to be part of the scene, I even purchased a Santa Claus suit, and wore it a few times; my honest effort at participating in our family festivities!

Halloween in our former home was an all-out activity, too. In addition to the obvious sights, my bride would also outfit our home with various holiday sounds and smells, adding to the thrill factor. A couple of times, she even dressed as a witch, and hid on our front porch when older trick-or-treaters would ring our door bell. I did my part, too, by dressing in a memorable costume when handing out our tasty treats. Occasionally, the fog, generated by our appropriate Halloween machines, was so thick, I could barely see the children as they walked down our brick-entry pathway.

Well, we moved after 35 years to a different Stillwater home, and now have lived in our new place for over 3 years. Since the new location has less traffic/walking public exposure, Ms. Debbie has had to improvise with her outdoor holiday decorations. Her latest efforts began in late September, with her Halloween items. She decided to decorate an area slightly north of our home, along a public sidewalk, and surrounded by tall trees. Her skills are as good as ever, and I am sure many folks have been amused and entertained by her Halloween props this year.

In these pandemic times of Covid-19, everyone needs to smile, don't they, folks of Our Town and far beyond?