Haunted M&M House
Haunted M&M House

It’s only Columbus Day weekend, and already one of the department stores in a nearby mall, has opened their Christmas Store. Maybe I’m getting older , but it seems as though it opens earlier and earlier every year (although my wife insists that it opens on the same weekend every year). As we walked around the displays of decorated trees, ornaments and Christmas Villages, tucked in the far corner was a display of Halloween decorations. Every year since I’ve known my wife, we’ve set up a village scene under or near our tree. Our village is a combination of the New England and North Pole series of houses. Over the past few years, Department 56 has also been producing a Halloween series of houses, figures and accessories, which started me thinking (and that’s usually a dangerous thing) does anyone set up an elaborate Halloween Village?

Since our twins are now 7 yrs old, Halloween is all about getting dressed up (this year it’s Darth Vader and Hanna Montana) meeting their friends and getting as much candy as possible. Like most people (I imagine) the majority of our decorating is done outside, since that’s what all the Trick or Treaters will see. However, as the kids have gotten older and have different groups of friends, my wife & I typically end up in different parts of the neighborhood. Luckily, my mother-in-law, comes over to hand out the candy at our house, and my sister-in-law and her husband also join us Trick or Treating (also in costume – which the kids love). So once the kids have collected all the candy they can carry (and start to get hungry) we all head back for dinner and a little conversation.
In order to keep up the Halloween atmosphere, what started as a few spooky faces taped onto the doors, has evolved into light up pumpkins, black wire trees, window decals and whatever my wife saw last year that we need to add to this year’s decorations. The one thing that doesn’t change is the fact that we need to have centerpiece for the table (the pizza or Chinese food just wouldn’t taste the same without it). Ours, as you can see below, is fairly simple.
So, like I said before – does anyone out there have a whole Halloween Village set up with haunted houses, graveyard, dead trees, ghosts, etc. Even if you just have a spooky little table display like ours, it’s not time for Christmas in the City yet, so let’s see what you’ve got.

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