Christmas cards are a big part of the holidays for me. I love to find a package of cards, with enough to send to everyone on my list, something creative and cheerful on the card front and a sentiment inside which isn't too sappy. It takes awhile to find the right box of cards, at the right price. I also like cards that can be mailed. Anything too decorative with fancy beads and gizmos won't be the right card to send through Canada Post. (Or any post offices, depending on where you mail them from). Bumpy cards are really only good for hand delivering yourself.

A Few Ideas for Signing those Cards

• Merry Yule. Hope you find something wonderful at the bottom of your Christmas stocking
• Seasons Greetings. Treat yourself to a great hot beverage over the holidays.
• Happy Holidays. It's only as cold as you think it is!
• Joys of the Season to you and your family.
• Be Merry, Bright and inspired this holiday season.
• Merry greetings and all that goes along with the holiday season.
• Happy holiday baking and snacking.
• Good will towards all men, women, children and animals too.
• Celebrate the season.
• Happy Christmas shopping, you can't give everyone a lump of coal after all.
• Merry Christmas. I'll be happy to pick up Santa's milk and cookies for him.
• Merry wishes for a great Christmas.
• Keep your holiday cheer all through to the New Year.

What you Need for Sending Out Christmas Cards

• Make a list of everyone you want to send a card to. Count how many cards you will need based on your list.
• Get the update on any addresses you aren't sure of. Look up postal codes if you are missing any.
• Make note of the stamps you will need to buy (for each location: Canada, the US, overseas in my case).
• Pick up your stamps early so you can get the Christmas stamps at the Post Office. Also, you can stick them on and mail them without waiting in a line for people mailing packages overseas later.
• It's an extra, but I like to have holiday stickers to add inside the card and/or on the outside of the envelope. Sometimes I draw my own Christmas doodles too.
• Another extra is a fancy pen for writing all those cards. I like to use a red pen, a holiday colour.

Keeping Religion out of Your Season's Greetings

I like to use Merry Yule, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings - any variety of holiday salutations. But, lately the traditional greetings have come under fire, getting closer scrutiny. Christians don't want to keep the Christ out of Christmas. But, not everyone is Christian. Do you even know (for sure) which religion everyone on your Christmas card list believes in?

For instance, Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate Christmas. You might feel funny (or upset) if someone returns your Christmas card for religious reasons.

Unless you are sure about religious issues you should consider a neutral holiday greeting. Season's Greetings works well. Winter is a season after all. How can anyone, of any religion have an objection to a card wishing them a happy winter season?

Keep this in mind too when you buy (or make your own) Christmas cards. The illustration on the front could be something neutral, like snowmen, a Christmas village, etc. You can keep the issue in mind when you pick out the cards you want to send.

Of course, if you are sending cards just to family and friends you know very well, this whole thing won't be a problem.

A chilly night, after a tough day and you've been looking forward to time with a good book and a steamy, hot bath. You've got the place to yourself so you can take your time for a good, hot soak. Maybe even a scented candle, one of those aromatherapy candles someone got you last Christmas. Everything is perfect, you're starting to feel better already... You set your shampoo. conditioner, lotions and potions within easy reach and you make sure the big, fluffy towel is right there so you can wrap yourself up later.

It's peaceful, warm and the room is just pleasantly thick with steam from the hot water. You dip in a toe to check the water but, something is there. Something is touching your toe and brushing against your bare foot. Eeeek!

It's the creepy rubber duck!

There it floats, bobbing on the water, smiling with it's weirdly sewn up beak. The odd bubble trailing after it, possibly an air leak or some other gas leaking out of it's rubbery body. The veins in it's head seem to be slightly pulsing, like a mad scientist experiment never fully switched off. It's vacant, black eye holes seem to follow you as you back out of the room.

Where did that thing come from!!! Well, Amazon actually.

I found a selection of creepy rubber duckies. Although these rubber ducks may not like to be called duckies. There are glowing skeleton rubber ducks. There are zombie rubber ducks. For those who want a variety, there are an assortment of Halloween rubber ducks. Or, there's this guy, the black and white rubber duck which mysteriously just appears out of nowhere like a bad ghost you can't get rid of.

Rubber Ducks you Don't Want Haunting your Dreams

Not only are they creepy and scary enough... but they glow in the dark. Possibly radioactive? Ghastly, spooky radioactive rubber ducks for Halloween, or your nightmares...

Get a fancy backpack just in time for Halloween.

Whether you have fantasies of being a woman pirate, the terror of the high seas. Or maybe you just like to look a little less nice and a lot more dangerous. The skull is certainly going to be noticed on your backpack.

When we were little we didn't get out very long for trick-or-treating. My Mom would give us an old pillow case to fill with our candy collection but, of course, we never managed to stay out long though to fill it. Besides it would soon get pretty heavy to carry.

How much smarter would it be to have a backpack on Halloween?

Carry around your candy on your back instead of in your hand. There were no straps on those pillow cases to make them easier to carry. Plus, they come already decorated in the flavour of Halloween.

Become a Pirate Queen even before Halloween

I found a few backpacks with skulls but you could make your own. DIY by finding a great skull design or get inspiration and create a design of your own. Use beads, buttons, embroidery thread, or any other crafty method which will get your design on the backpack of your choice. Keep in mind whatever you use to create the skull must stick to whatever your backpack is made of. A denim backpack is much easier to sew than leathery stuff, if you sew it on. If you're a glue gun diva make sure your type of glue will stick your embellishments to the material of your backpack.

Take a look at cartoon skulls for great inspiration (and easier skulls to work with too). There are loads of sugar skull designs (especially in tattoos) if you want something with a lot more detail and colour. Make the skull as creepy or comical as you like, but don't overly freak out small children if you are around them. Be nice to the little darlings - you'll be wanting a share of their Halloween candy later.

If you don't want to get into DIY this skull and crossbones backpack (I found it via Amazon and HAD to post it) is pretty fabulous. I love rhinestones and it is true, I would like to seem less nice and at least a bit more dangerous as we get closer to Halloween. I think every nice girl/ woman has a quiet wish to be a pirate queen. At least part time.

Extraordinary is such a great word and a really great word for writing about campy pink flamingo lawn ornaments made over in the Halloween style.

Pink flamingos aren't just for Christmas, but they are so much fun wearing those Santa hats. Take the flamingo lawn ornament idea and bring it to Halloween. I found these Halloween flamingo lawn ornaments and had to share them for everyone to get the idea. What a lot of fun to turn something already fun into something less than normal and even more fun?

Do you usually decorate outside for Halloween? I have saved up most of my decorating for Christmas but Halloween is actually the more fun holiday. Not so much family and traditions are expected for Halloween. So there is opportunity for change, creativity and odd new ideas. Take the chance and do something unusual, after all, unusual is part of the day for Halloween.

Keep Things Simple with a Few Creepy Flamingos on your Front Yard

Start with some skeleton, zombie or ghoulish looking flamingos and work your way along to adding ghosts made from old sheets (you can pick up old sheets pretty cheap at the thrift store). Get markers, colours like red will show up well, and draw on your ghosts. Give them faces, of course, but carry on from there. Give them gore and a violent past drawn all over them. Hang your ghosts from trees or anything else that gives them some chance to catch a breeze outside.

Use old Halloween costumes which you can recycle from your own family or pick up cheap at thrift stores and dollar stores. An old costume, like a witch, vampire, and Frankenstein monster can be held up with clothes hangers and displayed pinned together to look like someone is wearing the outfit. Pin a hat at the top of the main outfit, add gloves and slippers (boots would be too heavy) at the bottom. If you have a few masks stick them with the hat to look like a face. Of course, you don't need to stick with the traditional Halloween characters, recycle Princess costumes, fairies, farm animals and anything else you find and get creative ideas for.

The Halloween lawn flamingos are just a great place to start your whole Halloween outside empire. Grow it with new ideas each year. Build a cemetery, turn the whole thing into a Halloween maze for trick-or-treaters to walk through before they can get to your door.

Or, keep things simple with a few flamingos - enough to show you have the Halloween spirit and a sense of humour.

Halloween is a great time to play with things, especially anything you can share and scare others with. Keep in mind, the public includes small children (unless you have a way to control access and block the view) so don't get too scary for the little people who will be out there too.

Wicked, But Only in a Good Way

I always wanted to be a Witch for Halloween. It was the one costume I never did wear in all my Halloween years. I finally did, as an adult handing out candy to children trick-or-treating at my sister's house. I had tried to make spending the night at the door not seem so bad. So I bought a witch hat from a department store the day of Halloween.

It was kind of picked over but that just added to it's charm I decided. I wore a long black skirt (it was the same skirt I wore for my winter wedding) and a sort of Halloween looking shirt. So that was my Witch costume after all those years of wanting to be a Halloween Witch.

I looked okay but nothing as I had always imagined it. Not the floor sweeping black gown, the pointed hat and fabulous, yet creepy shoes. No history or mystery to that costume.

We always made or created our own costumes when I was a young trick-or-treater. We never bought an entire, pre-made, costume. Instead we bought the odd accessory and created costumes from patterns, fabric and old clothes. We were the kids who carried around pillow cases for our candy hoard - they worked great but got kind of heavy. Halloween costumes were fun because we could be creative and become something unique. Sure we did the standard things like angels and vagabonds but I won an award at the Community Centre for my hula girl costume with a real grass skirt.

Start with the Witch Hat

I especially like the hats with a veil, feathers and other extras. They look like an old fashioned hat, vintage witch. I also like colours other than black. My perfect Witch hat would be either green or purple with a good quality veil in layers. I'd have flowers around the brim and little jeweled spiders hanging from the veil.

Every Witch Needs a Stylish Gown

The Witch dress I would like would be long, flowing and old fashioned. An historical gown, something kind of stylish but maybe a touch of something unique, like polka dots. No need for a Witch costume to be all black, dark and serious after all.

The Witch Shoes and Cloak Too

I'd want shoes I could walk in. Some of the costume shops have a cover for your own shoes. This is practical but... shoe covers don't seem quite the thing for a fabulously styled Witch.

Shopping for a Sorceress

I like to look at the Witch costumes and accessories online each Halloween. Just for fun.

Window shopping is a great way to shop without the horror of charging up your credit card (but sadly lacking the delivery of boxes with presents you sent yourself later).