Deck Your Home with Jack O'Lanterns and Halloween Lights

The artificial palm tree sits in its hay filled pot, decked with Halloween decorations.

Five baseball sized Jack o'lanterns sit at its base, each with "scare crow" hats and straw hair. Their orange glow floods the pot and seeps into the hay at the palm tree's base.

A string light, containing 10 rubber ball sized Jack o'lanterns, snake its way up the tree trunk and through its leaves. Their orange glows bath the tree. This Halloween string light pattern repeats itself with all the artificial trees in the house.

Ten trees combine to cast their orange glow throughout the townhome. Stand alone Jack o'lanterns take up stations between these trees.

Outside, the 7 foot tall pumpkin arch, three pumpkin faces on each side, stand guard. Its orange glow bathes the front garden and sneaks into the living room. A 2½ foot tall lighted Jack o'lantern sits on a chair under the arch.

Setting up for Halloween is one of my favorite fall activities.

Preparation begins in July and August, when stores offer last year's Halloween decorations for sale. My Halloween decoration theme is two pronged: Jack o'lantern image and Halloween orange. Walking through the Halloween decoration section, I compare what's on display with what I have back home.

If the item fits my decoration theme, I place it in the cart.

When September 29 rolls around, I invade the holiday decoration storage room to liberate the Halloween decorations.

I pull them out and line them against the walls. Then I test the string lights and Jack o'lanterns.

When September 30th comes around, I hang the pumpkin string lights within the artificial foliage. I deploy the smiley faced lighted pumpkin lanterns on top of the bar, refrigerator and other horizontals.

My family isn't as Halloween and Thanksgiving decoration crazy as I am. I consider it a blessing though, as I consider this project as an "art." Once I'm done decorating, I delegate the lighting to someone in the family.

Every night, from October 1 to 31, we enjoy rooms bathed in orange glow, and sprinkled with Jack o'lanterns. Regular lights take a brake.

A horizontal totem, containing three Halloween smiling pumpkin heads, sits on top of the TV. A four foot Jack o'lantern totem stands in one of the living room's corners. A Halloween pumpkin lantern, imaged after Walt Disney's Goofy, sits on top of the refrigerator. A ghost, with its arms wrapped around another smiley faced Halloween pumpkin, rests on top of the china cabinet.

The rest take up stations in the laundry room and office.

Jack o'lantern icicle lights hang at the top of each window. Three of these windows also have a two foot diameter Halloween lantern.

October 31, Halloween Night, quickly comes around.

With candy by the door, we're ready to fill the neighborhood kids' candy bags. White flashing lights join the orange glow coming into the room. The doorbell rings, followed by zombies, ghouls, goblins and vampires yelling "Trick or treat!"

I fill their bags with candy. Their parents, smile on their faces, inform me that they just took a picture of their kids in front of our home.

When kids and parents look inside, they hear a small mechanical monster say, "Happy Halloween! Ha Ha Ha!" The only light illuminating the candy area is the orange glow coming from the indoor Halloween decorations.

Halloween night isn't the end of the lights and decorations display. Upstairs, the Thanksgiving lights and decorations sit lined up by the wall. November 1 marks the decoration changing of the guard.