When my MIL removed the Halloween decorations my son had spent weeks making, she claimed he’d asked her to. But his terrified explanation led me to a discovery I never expected.
For two weeks, Owen, my son, worked on decorations after homework. He painted pumpkins, cut bats from black paper, and bought orange lights with his allowance.
“I made them.”
“Mom, can we leave the porch light on tonight?” he asked, straightening the cardboard ghost he’d taped beside our door.
I’d offered to buy decorations, but he said, “I want people to know I made them.”
He was especially excited about our neighborhood’s annual Halloween decorating contest. This was his first year participating, and he kept asking when the judges would come.
“Those won’t survive.”
My mother-in-law, Elaine, lived right next door. She’d won the contest four years in a row, and her yard was already packed with expensive decorations.
