Written by For our prompt of “Decorate” today, I did a quick little doodle of two squirrels decorating their house for the autumn season. I saw a couple of squirrels on my walk early this morning who were grabbing all they could and rushing up a tree. I didn’t see where they were going, but I imagined they had a lovely little house with a little blue door and were simply gathering things needed for some seasonal decorating. In truth, Philippe and I only really decorate for Christmas though will sometimes put a couple of things out for Halloween if we remember to do so. Usually, our problem is remembering we put anything up in the first place and then we get a sort of Nightmare Before Christmas blend of décor for the rest of the season. There are pumpkins waiting to be carved, however, so that will be our one bit of decoration to add. I’ve always wanted a large basement so I could store decorations and keep adding to the mix, but it’s probably best that I don’t in the end as I might become addicted.
Years ago, Philippe and I tried to decorate a bit for Halloween. But, since neither of us like anything actually scary, just spooky fun, we simply ended up putting together a Lego Scooby Doo set and calling it done. We kept the set together and it’s currently downstairs in a box. I thought about going to retrieve it and realized there’s less than a couple of weeks left in the month now. I’ve no idea where time has gone, but Halloween is almost here and soon it will be November. Last year at Christmas, I purchased a gravy boat with a turkey design on it that Philippe had seen and wanted. A few days ago he suddenly burst out with, “you offered me that gravy boat didn’t you?” It always makes me giggle that he says “offered me” rather than “gave me,” as though he hasn’t quite decided whether he’s going to accept the gift or not. In this case, he was quite excited that we had at least one decoration to use for next month’s holiday.
It’s a rather meager way to decorate, to be sure, but we just save all of our energy for after Thanksgiving and then go perfectly crazy when it’s time for the Christmas season to begin. Well, I think he loves it, but I’m probably the one who goes the craziest. I just love all of the sparkling lights that make it feel like there’s a bit of magic in the air. Philippe has spent the last couple of days trying to deduce a problem with our gas fireplace. It seems another feature of the house has decided to fritz out as well. He got it working again, so that sort of counts as something lovely for the season. Though, it’s not the crackling fire I remember as a kid, so it’s pretty much just décor. Either way, I’m excited for evenings by the fire and cozy times ahead. We have a very happy little home, even if we don’t tend to squirrel away very many things for seasonal decorating.
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About the DoodlewashDa Vinci Paint Co.: Hansa Yellow Medium, Yellow Ochre, Bezimida Orange, Quinacridone Red, Cobalt Turquoise, Terra Cotta, and Pthalo Blue. Lamy Al-Star Safari Fountain Pen with black ink in an A5 Hahnemühle Watercolour Book. Want to purchase a print of this doodlewash? Want to purchase a print of this doodlewash? Send me a note with a link to this post, and I’ll add it to my shop! |
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Yikes be careful with that gas fireplace. I decorate only for Christmas with the tree up end of November and down on Christmas Eve or Day believe it or not. I take it down on the morning I get up and go into the living room and that tree looks out of place. Works every time. Yes in two weeks I get to ride my broom again….
hehe! Oh, no worries on the fireplace, it just needed a good cleaning! Turns out it doesn’t clean itself. We always leave the tree up until after New Year’s Day. Seems too early otherwise, as we’re still playing with our presents! lol 😉
The big problem with decorating is putting things away afterwards. I’m terrible at figuring out how to fit things into a box, and avoid it like the plague. I soon discovered the best way to avoid it at holidays was to never take things out of the box at all. It’s worked very well for me, lol.f
That’s where I’ve come to..I’m doing good to put a hat on the carved bear at the door.
A hat on a carved bear sounds awesome to me! 😉
Lol… that’s a plan indeed! 😉 Yeah we’ve got quite a system in place now and everything goes quickly. But that’s only for Christmas. Any rouge decoration for any other season is probably still sitting out somewhere! hehe
Cute squirrels with a great eye for decorating., Charlie!!
Thanks so much, Mary! 😃💕
Wonderful Charlie! We don’t decorate either. There are no street lights on our road and the houses are spread out so it isn’t worth the hike to come to our house for trick or treat.
Thanks so much, Karen! 😃💕 Yeah, I’m in the city so it’s nice to see some folks decorating, but we never get any trick or treaters in my neighborhood.
I watered my plants and the turf war is in full force! Hidden pecans….NO!!!!!! So, let’s not discuss squirrels. My eye is twitching again. haha haha haha
Yeah, if I didn’t pump the brakes on Christmas decorations, I would be one of those people who would end up living in a Christmas house. haha haha
Your painting is so sweet. 💜
Thanks so much, Marisela! 😃💕 I’d love a Christmas house! lol As for squirrels, one of my best friends was mad at squirrels in her yard and then when she was sitting outside and one came up to her and was completely tame. She fed it a few things and it sat right by her foot. It was so cute! 😉
I went to the University of Texas at Austin and, if you want to talk about squirrels, they were everywhere!!! Because of the students, they were really tame. Students would sit on a bench to eat and they would climb all over the students hoping for food. They would eat out of your hand and sit with you. The school photographers could get crazy close to them to photograph them. It even seemed like they posed for the pic. They are cute except when digging up my plants. I wouldn’t mind so much that she hides OUR pecans in my plants, but when she looks for them, she digs like the Tasmanian Devil. Dirt and my plant’s roots everywhere! Then, it keeps coming back to the same spot over and over. Maybe we should sit and talk it out. 😂😂 haha We even put out pecans for her, but she didn’t want them. She likes them covered in dirt. haha haha
Forgot…..plumbers cleared out our sewer line. OUR sewer line is in good condition considering it’s about 70 years old. The issue is where it connects with the city line. If it’s within the 10 feet range, it falls on the city to fix. If not, it would fall on us despite our line being in good condition and it’s $9,000. Yikes is right. Charlie, we just can’t. We dropped 3 grand already. God willing, the repair is under the city’s repair zone. If not, all we can do is hope for the best and wait until this virus dies and life returns to normal so I can go back to work. The Lord is with us and He is in control, Charlie. He is faithful. 💜 Sorry to share so much. I apologize.
I’m sure it will all work out just fine!! 🙂
Oh my gosh I love them and their darling home. So festive! I decorate for just about every main holiday and then a few extras thrown in St. Patrick’s Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July and Fall. I recently found an old nut can with great graphics. I filled it up with fake acorns and my little Steiff squirrel and some Fall flowers. It was the cutest little thing. I will bring it back out for November.
Thanks so much, Lori! 😃💕 Aww that sounds like the cutest decoration ever! Love that!
You’ll be pleased to know that you’re in good company. I no longer decorate for anything. Even Xmas gets short shrift. Though I do have a manger scene made of bears. I tried to find it last year and couldn’t remember what safe place I hid it away. I also have a stuffed Max dog from the Grinch! In reality, when you consider yourself 99.9% non-religious, in seems disingenuous to holiday up for a Christian celebration. Hence, my love for Thanksgiving.
Those sounds like perfectly lovely decorations indeed! 😃💕 Yeah, I go a bit crazy for Christmas, but it’s mostly because I still believe in Santa Claus. lol 😉
Great doodle, Charlie. Much nicer than just a hole in a tree. We decorate at Christmas and usually we do the front door at Halloween but we aren’t going to this year.
Thanks so much, Gary! 😃💕 Yeah, we just never got into the habit of decorating for Halloween. But Christmas is a sparkly jewel of decorations! hehe
Great sketch Charlie! We don’t do Halloween, but put a few things up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since my husband and I have worked in healthcare, just having the day off together is a wonderful celebration. We’re so looking forward to having all our children home who are now scattered from east to west. There are so many blessings to be thankful for.
Thanks so much, Laura! 😃💕 That sounds like a wonderful holiday indeed! We won’t be seeing our family this year, but hopefully next!