Growing up in the north end of Tacoma, we lived in an old house that was built in 1916 that had lots of attic space, a spooky basement with an old furnace that always stopped working and creaky floors. My mom always decorated our house for each holiday without fail. As a child my job was to help with the decorating. Whether it was Christmas, Halloween, Easter or Presidents Day; my mom had tons of decorations. I can imagine she bought several decorations at the Proctor Dime Store, Sears or Woolworth’s as those are the stores we shopped at. Especially at Halloween my mom had decorations everywhere. Pumpkins from our backyard garden, ghosts in the kitchen, a large plastic skeleton on the dining room table and fake cobwebs everywhere. My sister and I even hosted a Halloween Party one year where I dressed as a gypsy and my sister was a fortune teller – telling our friends their fortunes for the future and what handsome men they would marry. What fond memories.
As you can imagine I love to decorate also. I decorated our home early this year – as October has been an exciting and busy month for me. Pumpkins bought from H & L Produce on the front porch, Halloween bears in the family room and a Halloween themed table cloth in the dining room. I do not have any cobwebs up though.
Now as my mother lays ailing in a local nursing home – she does not even know it is October nor that Halloween is around the corner. I treasure the wonderful memories I share with her and my sister, after all, you never know what fortune lies ahead.
