scarecrow village tradition

I posted this last year, but it’s such a sweet idea, it is worth posting again for those of you who may have missed it…

I’ve never been a fan of draping my house with spiderwebs or placing giant tombstones in my yard, but I have to admit. I am a sucker for playful little vignettes that capture the imagination of children. I’ve always believed there is something magical about peering into a miniature village. It is as if that little world is so distant yet only inches away from eye-level. A peek inside a fanciful fantasy. 

At least that’s how I like to think of my whimsical scarecrow village. While I take great labors to set up intricate infrastructures for my Christmas wonderlands, I spend only a few minutes on this little pumpkin patch. Yet it still never ceases to make me smile. 

According to my children when they were very young, one little scarecrow sits alone under the spooky tree at the edge of a pumpkin patch. Can’t you just smell the apple fritters and hot cider?

And then comes his brother, walking down a path lighted by paper bag luminaries, carrying vegetables from summer’s last harvest. 

At last, they rendezvous under the tree and make their plans for trick or treating.

Okay, so I didn’t throw in the Bernstein bear family, but this story worked just fine on my preschoolers. Of course, my sons are grown now and it probably seems nonsensical that I still assemble this Halloween village. But for me, gazing into the eyes of these miniature scarecrows takes to me a very sweet place.