Ushering in October

The best thing about fall might just be putting up Halloween decorations. They get you excited for Halloween (one of my top favorite holidays), adorn your house with cute decor like little witch string lights or painted ghosts and they give you a good scare every once in a while.

My personal favorite decoration is a laughing skull. It might not be the cutest decoration (not all Halloween decorations should be cute anyway), but it's definitely the best. When I was probably 7 or 8 I had an obsession with winning things out of claw machines. Even though everyone told me those machines were rigged and I'd never win, I always wanted to try. One day, I decided to give it a go and my claw pulled out a laughing skeleton head. That wasn't precisely what I was aiming for, but I didn't mind. I've treasured it ever since.

The best feature of this decoration is that it laughs when you least expect it to do so. Loud noises trigger it, from loud talking to closing doors. My dog has recently learned that her barking and growling triggers its laughter. This in turn creates more barking and growling. Eventually my dog sits by the back door pleading for us to let her escape into the backyard from maniacal laughter from both the skeleton and me.

I love Halloween.

Happy October.