Horsey Halloween Decor

 Second post of the day - comment to enter for tomorrow's drawing!

Fall is my favorite season, and October is my favorite month. I love the cooler weather, the trees changing and the fields being harvested, and the feeling that we are headed into the holidays. 

I don't do a lot of decorating and still have the same furniture in the same places with the same paint on the walls that were there when we moved in 14 years ago. (Rumor has it that our kids are planning on changing that when they are here for Christmas - I've been asked, "If you could change the paint in here, what would you want?" Hmmmm...) 

Still, I do put a few seasonal things out. 

Hanging on my front door (on a metal horsey hanger) is a horse head made from autumn sticks, leaves, and nuts and wearing a twine halter. It's all artificial and I store it carefully away December - September and get it out again when October rolls around.

As you step into the house, my player piano always displays Cryptic in October. Cryptic is my absolute favorite of Breyer's Halloween horses. He really does look as though he is made of concrete instead of plastic!

I have an antique table that belonged to my grandparents that I use for seasonal displays in the living room. (And a set of antique sleigh bells year round because I like them!) That's Illuminati and he lights up when you press a button under his belly. (The Cowpokes and Pony Pals love my wind up ghost and jack o'lantern!)

Upstairs my carpet herd Old Timer wears his new Halloween hat in my office. Plans are to get him a hat for every season. His Christmas one has arrived and it is really cool!

He stands with Ichabod, Crane, and Nevermore. (Nevermore is another really cleverly done Halloween model.)

None of the other Halloween models ever really appealed to me and so aside from a few pumpkins on the porch, that's about the extent of my Halloween/fall decor. 

Halloween Horse

Breyer has done some beautiful Halloween horses, but I do not have any of them. Except this one.

Cryptic - the Big Ben mold made to look like a concrete graveyard statue. And, he glows in the dark!

Decorating for Halloween is, to me, the kick-off of the holiday season - from now until post New Year's Day there will be holiday decorations of some sort displayed around my home.

Putting Cryptic out on my antique player piano alone is the first thing I do as I begin pulling out the tubs of holiday decorations. As I go through them, I usually add a few small things, but I want Cryptic to remain the focal point.

Breyer began making Halloween horses in 2001, but only one of them looks like it was poured concrete.  He is delightfully unique as a result. One of my favorite pieces in my collection, he has the added honor of being the very first decoration set out each year as the holidays approach.

The First Halloween Decoration!

Autumn is my favorite time of year. I love the colors, the smells, the approaching holidays and the anticipation they bring - there isn't anything I don't like about fall.

Yesterday I put out my first Halloween decoration.

Naturally, it was horse-related!

This is Cryptic, Breyer's third Halloween horse, produced in 2004. They have done many others since, but Cryptic is my favorite. And, he's the most realistic - the other Halloween horses have decorations painted on them instead of being made to resemble something you might really find.

Cryptic is made to look like a headstone decoration, but when the lights are out, there is a skeleton painted underneath that glows in the dark.

I think he is beautiful, even elegant, and one of the best ideas Breyer has had. They have never repeated the concrete/headstone color; I wish they would do a whole series like this!