Back on October 28, I wrote an article praising the idea of using scarecrows as Halloween decorations. My argument was that certain scarecrows, such as the ones pictured in the article, could double as Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations. To be sure, the scarecrows have remained up since mid-October. That the household removed the hanging jack-o-lantern figure from their door while leaving the two miniature scarecrows up suggests to me that they are following the economical Halloween-Thanksgiving decoration concept to the letter.
The economical Halloween scarecrows prompted me to look for other examples of dual-holiday decorations, excluding rotting pumpkins strewn about by lazy homeowners. In Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, I found one decoration that featured prominently prior to Halloween, deflated, and then reappeared in its fully inflated glory in November. Behold, a black and orange inflatable dragon:
The dragon appeared, to the best of my recollection, in early-to-mid October. I assumed that it was a Halloween decoration, owing to the color scheme and to the fact the home had displayed an inflatable minion dressed as a ghost the year before. Surprisingly, shortly before Halloween, I found the dragon deflated. Had it had some kind of unfortunate accident?
In any event, in early November, I walked by the home and found the dragon reinflated to its full and former glory. The return of the inflatable dragon raised a question – was the dragon him or herself a dual-purpose economical Halloween-Thanksgiving decoration? The black and orange color scheme suggests Halloween, but a dragon itself does not. Similarly, I suppose orange is an autumnal color befitting Thanksgiving, albeit neither black nor “dragon” does likewise.
Perhaps this particular dragon is just a generic festive dragon, transcending the seasons as it sits and roars, with goofy eyes that I sadly did not capture in the picture. The inflatable dragon works for Halloween because of its color scheme and matches the autumnal leaves for Thanksgiving. The homeowner could stick antlers or a Santa hat on the dragon for Christmas and give it a heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine’s day. Perhaps this inflatable dragon is the ultimate holiday decoration.
In the alternative, perhaps the inflatable dragon is just an inflatable dragon.