ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE--IN YOUR FRONT YARD

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm the first to admit I fall on the downside of Martha Stewart on the holiday decor. My idea of autumn/Halloween/Thanksgiving festivity is a pumpkin and a pot of mums on the front porch and my autumn-leaf wreath on the front door. I'm sure I put my neighbors to shame, but really, when did decorating your house for Halloween get to be as big--if not bigger--than Christmas?

People spend hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars and countless hours arranging displays of orange and purple lights, ghoulies, ghosties, cobwebs, spiders, black cats (quite unfairly discriminated against, in my opinion) and all manner of things that go bump in the night.  Not to mention the requisite zombie.

Halloween stores pop up everywhere, their displays magically replaced on November 1st by Christmas decor.

 Is this burst of enthusiasm for making the most of All Hallow's Eve a reflection of the current cultural fascination with vampires, zombies, and witches? Or vice versa?

Or is it just us puny humans finding another way to thumb our noses at the coming of dark days, as we have since time immemorial? 

Whatever the reason, it's certainly an outlet for creativity, and although you may have seen this alien crash scene floating around on Facebook, I'm including it because it gets my top marks for whimsey.

So what about you, REDS and readers? Do you embrace the zombie apocalypse?

(This year I may have to at least put up a cobweb...)