Christmas Tree Shop 2019 - Part 2

So no longer than a week went by, and I returned back to Christmas Tree Shop to find that the actual Halloween items were slowly showing up. The summer aisles were clearing out, and while there was only one dedicated section to Halloween, the more you looked, the more you would find around the store.

I'm still trying to find a theme for this year, as each year seems to lean in a certain way. Two years ago, black and purple was overpowering. Last year was was sloths it seemed, and I'm learning towards turn of the century inspire art this time around. Time will tell. Perhaps something will surprise us.

That's not to say that we don't have plenty of the standby's. Skulls, tombstones, jack-o-lanterns, and a section for the day-of-the-death flowery skulls. A fair amount seems to just combine all of the above. One wreath was just a cutout of a collage containing vintage Halloween postcard art from no less than five decades.

If I had to highlight a few things, I'd start with the stacked/light-up pumpkin towers. These could easily be the Autumnal version of a snowman, swapping snow for gourds. I picked up a few of these last year, so I left them behind. The hanging glass pumpkin tea lights were another temptation. The quality wasn't too bad either, so I may have to go back for them. Finally the animal themed props were nice as always. But I know from experience that these chip easily and weigh a ton once you have a bunch, and I'm sick of carrying half my body weight in decorations out of the attic each year.

I couldn't leave empty handed, and luckily I stumbled on the 'softgoods' section, which is a fancy name for tablerunners and soft throw blankets. There were too many to choose from, and while I don't need much more in terms of knick-knacks to display, I can always use things to place under them so they don't scratch furniture or worse, look un-aesthetically pleasing. I settled on the Ouija board themed throw blanket. It can double as a mood table base, or keeping warm in the winter. Plus it's good for the #meetoo era, since if a guy tries to get a little too handsy during a viewing of Mr. Boogedy, he may accidentally summon a demon, and then it will kill him!