My creepy-crawly spider jack o'lantern
Witchypoo pumpkin
I remembered to bring the pumpkins in off the porch the day before so they could warm up before I carved them (which is pretty organized for me). But they sat on the counter until late Halloween afternoon when my sweetie began giving me grief about always waiting till the last minute to carve them every year. Who me? Waiting until the last possible second?
And of course this year I found all our patterns but couldn't locate the pumpkin scoop and saws anywhere. So I winged it and picked two simple patterns, eyeballed the shapes, drew them on the pumpkins with a Sharpie marker, grabbed a paring knife and started carving. I think they turned out amazingly better than I expected. (I made a giant mistake on Witchypoo version 1.0 but it's hidden on the backside.)
The carving went so quickly that I had time to wrap our tree in eerie purple lights, rake the leaves into faux grave complete with skeleton bones peering out, a tombstone and some dead flowers. I've always dreamed about talking one of the kids to hide in the leaf grave and grab a trick-or-treater but my kids have better things to do on Halloween, I guess.
Pre-9/11 we had well over three hundred kids come by, then only eighty in 2001. This year we had less than thirty kids come by. (I have a very sad look on my face just thinking about it.) I loved, our whole neighborhood enjoyed, having hundreds of children come by; Halloween used to be an Event in our neck of the Haunted Forest. They were thirty very cute kids though. One little panda bear, who couldn't have been more than two and a half, roared at me VERY LOUDLY after getting his treats. I didn't know that pandas could roar that long with that much volume.
For the first time we had two dogs come by: a mad scientist in a lab coat and a skunk. They must have known that we always have homemade dog treats around and both left looking very satisfied. Maybe they were the start of a new trend. You heard it here first, folks!
Then the next morning all the spooky Halloween decorations disappeared, both inside and outside, and the Pilgrims and cornucopias made their appearance for Turkey Day.
Yesterday I popped the jacks into the oven. Tonight we supped on Pumpkin Soup made from our jack o'lanterns. Think gingery, spicy, rich and delicious. It wasn't
quite as good as the pumpkin soup I fell in love with at Buenos Grill, so the search goes on for the perfect soup recipe at Allrecipes.com.
Fortunately I have five more cups of pumpkin puree to experiment with.
And did you know that dogs like roast pumpkin almost as much as they like watermelon rind? Omnivores, both of them.
I didn't name them. While I was working on these guys, they began whispering to me. No, I'm not loco--I think this phenomenon happens to many dollmakers. Or maybe not. As we became further acquainted I learned how old they were and what their jobs were at the North Pole.
Jacques went into Pierre's keeping last year. (I figured anyone grown up enough to own a house, especially a home that simply oozes hospitality and gets dusted with magic every December, deserves to be entrusted with (finally!) his special Christmas elf.
After spending some time on my trusty sewing machine and raiding my stash of Christmas fabrics I came up with these two cuties. Meet Solange and Gretchen:
They now reside with Jacques in the wild hinterlands of New Mexico with my faraway family. Knowing that there are three little elves inhabiting Casa Coyotesong warms the sugar pine cones of my holiday heart!
Survived--even enjoyed it! How could it be otherwise with the Christmas Spirit in every nook and cranny?
I can't resist lambs or babies.
So delicate. These crystals didn't get to grow very long, but still the leftover rose leaves were gorgeous. The yews were even more striking with their deep green coloring, but I couldn't tromp through the deeper snow to take their photo. 
The only two words almost as nice as Summer Vacation are Christmas Break!And I'm officially on mine as of 3:30 pm today.
Kharma, who's had a bird fixation since she was a teensy puppy, has left the wild canaries alone. Amazing! And Zelda, who usually slurps up excess seeds until they irritate her throat and reappear magically (to put it delicately), hasn't touched a one. If I didn't know better, I'd think our pups know that the birds are treading a fine line between survival and a wintery demise.
That's Lilypad Pond hiding back there under a layer of snow and ice. Somewhere Nemo and his buds are wondering who turned out the lights on their pond.
I sat in a sunny window and stitched away. I coulda shoulda been doing something else, but my little gingerbread man is my reward for not pigging out at breakfast.
My sweetie muttered, "Costco," when we passed in the kitchen Saturday morning and I replied, "Christmas tree!"
The Queen Mother made the felt jack o'lanterns when the boys were small and I always wanted to find a fun way to display these pumpkins. I blanket-stitched the pumpkins to a suede-like black square last night while we watched a movie and digested our turkey dinner. 
Making Thanksgiving dinner was obviously way too relaxed in our house if I had time to sit in my cozy blue recliner, watch Mamma Mia!, and finish this little witch while the turkey roasted without turning into a somewhat bigger witch myself! 
Not as important as the recipe for Pumpkin Soup or the directions for Balsamic Roast Asparagus...but since I baked the bread and pies last night, I had some time to play with the napkins. Haven't you always marvelled at the folded napkins at nice restaurants? They just make the meal taste that much better.
I love squirrels and acorns--this little guy is vintage. You can see his brother in the photo above, right behind the crystal. They used to live on the Queen Mother's coffee table but now come play in my house every November.
I love the deep jewel tones of the tablecloth with our gold-rimmed china.
Her nickname is Tabitha.
Not one, but two, perfectly nice pots. I love the whitewashed terra cotta look. They are five gallon size and my patio looks much classier with the newest blueberry bush ensconced in my treasure instead of the black nursery pot. 
Thank heaven they're lightweight plastic because hauling them home would have been a challenge otherwise. Two walkers, two pots, two saucers--perfect! I'm delighted with the whole Green Movement because it puts a whole new positive spin on my 
That other jacketed lady just unsuspectingly walked right through my shot. Sorry, lady.
Can that little green juicer right up front come home with me anyway? 
Guess whose flock just added a new member! Isn't this the sweetest lambie pie ever? 
Each one has a different theme--from sophisticated to simple, from trendy to classic, from subtle to outrageous. Each comes accessorized with magnets: some spell l-o-v-e or h-o-p-e or l-i-v-e (which I rearranged to spell L'vie because I can't leave well enough alone) or fit the theme (food, cartoons, puppies). These magnet boards are selling like hotcakes and the craft fair is weeks away. I'd be surprised if she has any left by then.
I can't decide whether I like them wooden or painted better. These mini masterpieces would be the first things I'd buy if there were extra money. Dratted depression.
she's been busy quilting some graduation presents too--from wild to demure depending on the lucky recipient.
