Last year, I completely missed Halloween. Halloween was already going to be difficult for me to celebrate because it was one of Kody’s favorite holidays. It also fell within a week of when my mom died, so it was completely lost to me in everything else that immediately followed her death. I love Halloween, but Kody definitely loved it even more. I remember that one of the things that he was really excited about when we bought our own home was that we could now go all out and decorate for Halloween. Of course, we didn’t really have the money for doing Halloween right, but we were able to get some decorations set up.

Kody loved spooky season and everything that went along with it. He loved watching The Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Typically during October, we’d watch each movie at least once. I know he definitely watched it by himself a few additional times as well. He’d look at a whole selection of different decorations and talk about all the things we should get in the future. Since he loved to mess with people, he always hoped he’d be able to set up our whole yard. He was hoping to do everything up correctly. He was sure that in doing Halloween right, we’d drive our neighbor crazy. That guy had a home with a perfect yard and never would be someone to put more than a pumpkin on his deck.

I always wished that we’d been able to do Halloween right the last one that we spent together. We never got too much further than some hanging ghosts and a skeletal flamingo in the front yard. Now that I am living in my own home, I am doing Halloween right, for myself, and also for Kody. This year, I have Halloween decals on the windows. I strung the hearth above my fireplace with some purple spider string lights. I set up a pumpkin display on my table. Outside is even better. I threaded orange and purple lights all down the fence, hung ghosts in front of the garage, and set up some cute Halloween inflatables.

I always do the cute type of Halloween decorations instead of the scary ones. Its a lot like how Kody’s favorite Halloween movies are more cute than scary. My house looks completely perfect. This time, I am doing Halloween right and I feel really good about it. I know that Kody would approve. Unlike him, I hope that I am not bothering my new neighbors too much.