A new carved Witch guarded our front door.  Carved out of wood by  

Michael and Brenda Sroka of Willow Valley County Crafts,  area folk artists 

she attracted a lot of attention.  Dracula and Frankenstein still guarded 

our home in Princeton, but in the front yard, as we celebrated this holiday 

inside our home in Princeton in the year 2003. Sharon is love with 

Halloween. In fact, she stated "While Bob’s favorite decorating hobby 

is Christmas, Halloween is my absolute favorite.”  As a result, our house 

takes on more and more Halloween decorations each year.  This year we have 

four floor-to-ceiling trees, lots more pumpkins, and lots more plastic and wax 

decorations.  Her love for Halloween evident from the outside of our 

home decorated with some lighted figures, Dracula, Frankenstein, and thousands 

of orange, green, and purple miniature lights.  So, here goes with 

Halloween 2003 in Princeton, Wisconsin.

      Happy Halloween! While it is impossible to see everything we have on 

display, we have chosen a few images of our decorations this year to help you 

get a feel for this holiday. If you show up on Halloween, Sharon will meet you in 

costume! I will too! In the corner of our kitchen, Sharon has placed Department 

56 Houses and scenes in a Halloween theme.  Brown and black-painted 

Styrofoam bases help create a setting for this eerie village.

     Inside the house, there are various scenes that we would like to share 

with you. The first images are of our Halloween tree in our living room. Almost 

all of the glass ornaments are those made by Christopher Radko with a smattering of some 

made by Glen Lewis of Slavic Treasures and Patricia Breen. The picture on 

the right is of the tree in the dark as we most often see it and the picture on the right 

is a picture taken with a flash to show the ornaments a bit better as they

hang on this floor-to-ceiling tree. This is a new tree this year.  Brilliantly light with orange lights, 

it glows in our front window facing the street.

     Then there is our fireplace in front of which we have lots of pumpkins, skeletons, 

rattles, and even some cookie cutters on display. On the mantle of the 

fireplace, you can find some more Halloween consisting of candy containers, a witch, 

antique skulls, and Halloween horns.  On either side are German papier-mache candy containers. 

 At each side of the fireplace there were black branched trees with Halloween 

lanterns and green flashing skeletons.

     In the dining room, we have the china cabinet filled with various papier-mâché 

items along with some hard plastic items. The ledges above the

windows and cabinets have paper items displayed along with 1940s and 1930 s

candles. Above the china cabinet there is a setting of old papier-mâché

pumpkins and a cat in a setting where their eyes are eerie as they light in

the dark.  New this year is a tree with a witch standing right by the tree.  

With blond hair, she has made herself quite at home.

     We end with some photos of some centerpieces or arrangements for 

decorating. Perhaps you will find some of these useful when decorating next Halloween 

with various items including noise makers, candy containers.  Happy Halloween 

from Bob and Sharon