#1,779 The Best Halloween.

Oh man oh man. As if this morning wasn’t cozy enough:

The rest of the day went up from there and turned out to be the best, coziest, Halloween of my adult life up to this point. It’s so late and we’ve done so much today, I can barely string words together. I’ll let the pictures do the talking—but just know, it felt like my romanticized New England fall fantasy came to town along with perfectly cold fall winds that made the leaves rustle across the lawns all over downtown. Ben made a huge kettle of chili over an open flame out by the porch, my aunts, cousins and their kids made our house home base for trick-or-treating, I made spiced apple cider, friends from around the neighborhood (like Dawn and Brooke) stayed a while on the porch, and best of all… We did all this in coats and boots and jeans. We did not sweat. And that is what makes Halloween magical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucy was a southern belle, and Jim was her southern gentleman. Adorable.

The thing I love most about this house is that all of our friends and family feel welcome and at home here. The way it looks, that’s fine, but it’s beside the point. All I’ve ever wanted is for it to feel like home, like comfort, for anyone who walks through its door.

After all the Halloween festivities died down, we took Ross and Laura over to see the progress at Ben and Josh’s newly cleaned up and organized downtown workshop. It’s such a big, industrial space with 16 foot ceilings with exposed rafters and brick walls, full of old apothecary cabinets, shelves, tiny glass bottles (of Acme poision!), and prescription books and ledgers from the 1950s. Josh’s building was once Johnston Drug Store, and the back warehouse is now their hangout and wood working shop. They’ve got a wood burning stove, stuffed antelope head, the Johnston Drugs original neon signs, and old sofas and chairs in a sitting area with books and old 1960s hubcaps. If I’m being honest, it makes me jealous. I’ve got Lucky Luxe, but this… Man this place is COOL.

And then we rememebered we had one last little project for the night—to install the antique-style Christmas window lettering I designed for Andrea’s shop, since their huge annual Christmas open house is this weekend and it had to be done tonight or not at all. Christmas! HOW IS IT TIME ALREADY?! We headed around the corner to her store, turned on the Bing Crosby channel on Pandora, and while 40 degree winds whipped around us in our wool coats, we had the absolute best time feeling like we were part of something very special in this little town. Some of the ladies were still inside getting things fluffed up for the big open house, and they came outside to see how it was going. Here’s a tiny sneak peek of Josh cleaning the glass before we installed the first signage on the ‘White Christmas’ window display:

Saks Fifth Avenue’s got competition in Mississippi. I’ll share the finished product tomorrow! I can’t wait to show you, friend!
I hope your Halloween was just as festive and filled with friends, family, and a toasty warm fire. The holidays are here!