Fall 2026

A few years ago the Mexican shop on Michigan Avenue featured  this skeleton with butterfly wings and marigolds and I’ve been on the lookout for a skeleton garland to enhance ever since.

This year I found one at a Dollar Tree and with butterfly wings from Michael’s and a floral stem from World Market, I created a garland to hang above my Day of the Dead display.

We had Rushmer Christmas early this year and we received a butterfly ornament from our Seattle niece and thought it should go here too.

I went to a workshop at the Chicago Cultural Center I’ll write about in another post and when I was leaving that workshop, I saw this flier and decided I had to do that too. The skull I painted joined the display along with the ceramic cat and the doll my Birmingham niece made that I had given to my older daughter.

Another Fall addition was a small knitted pumpkin from Foursided.

When I visited my sister in  Columbia last summer a friend of hers brought over some Christmas ornaments from a neighbor who had recently died to see if she wanted any of them. I was thrilled to take an ornament made from actual Sequoia tree needles and a pinecone for our Fall branch.

We hung the Fall branches in the dining room again but the “velvet” pumpkins ended up being displayed differently.

I wasn’t sure what I would use for my trick or treat ornament this year until I saw that Michael’s had some sideshow posters in their Halloween area. I found and purchased a snake charmer image from Etsy. I was really excited when I found Haribu snakes for the treats. (I had thought I would have to use gummy worms).

Of course, I saved one for our Halloween trees which were in the living room again this year.