Shabby Chic?

I'm not sure what to call my holiday decorating style. It seems like it should have a name, but what do you call it when it's driven by speed, convenience, lack of funds, and children?

We have a grand total of six store-bought Halloween decorations that still manage to take up too much space in my closets. I let the children decide where these things should go, and this is what Ben did with half of them:

"Don't you think we should spread these out some?" I asked, as I started moving them away from each other.

"No," he said, moving them back. "The witch in the "Witch Workroom" [center] made a giant scarecrow and a giant pumpkin."

Now that's just cool.

A few days ago he brought home a craft from school - a fall tree made out of a brown paper lunch bag - and told me it needed to go behind the Witch Workroom. So we scooted that framed photograph back to make room.

I love looking at Ben's little collection. It makes me happy.

We also have Christopher's craft from school, hanging on our wall:

This led to the four of us making ghosts to add to our ensemble. I envisioned white ghosts with black eyes. You know, the usual. My children had something different in mind:



I didn't know ghosts could have teeth. Or, as Ben so helpfully labeled, spiders and guts:

John's even had arms, horns, and fangs. (Can you tell I live with boys? Can you??)

So, maybe shabby chic isn't really right. Maybe what I should call it is just... fun.