It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

“What if I did a countdown to Halloween?”

“No.”

“I think it could be fun.”

“No.”

“It wouldn’t have to be all bloody and gory. It would be cool!”

“No. I don’t want anything scary on the wall.”

“But, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! Nightmare Before Christmas! SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR!”

[sigh] “Okay, fine. But I don’t want to see Chucky or anything.”

"Well that would be ridiculous. It's not even Halloween-themed."

And that, folks, is how I got Dave to agree to a Halloween countdown on the chalkboard wall!

See, all summer I've been busy with family visits, road trips, and editing my manuscript,*  but in the last few days, I turned in my last edits, we made it home, and Chicago got cold enough to ensure our family won't be coming to visit for at least eight more months. 

So what do I do with all this free time? Let's see what the puppy says:

TUG TOY FOREVERRRRR

Nope! Thirty-one chalkboard drawings, all counting down to one of my favorite holidays, Halloween.

I'm starting with a heavy-hitter, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown! As usual, despite having Charlie Brown's name in the title, this is all Linus's show, as he waits in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin to arrive (metaphor? kids' cartoons shouldn't be this existential). 

I melded this image together from two separate images, which is why there's a Charlie Brown on the left AND ALSO a kid wearing a ghost costume filled with holes, which fans know is the costume worn by, who else?, Charlie Brown! Yes, there is a metaphysical mystery in the chalkboard muralcle. This does not bode well for the next thirty days...

Dave's first-view reaction: Nice, love.**

SO MANY MORE PHOTOS AFTER THE JUMP!!!!

*Hey, I have a real job! Or as much as you can call "sitting in my pajamas writing about history and magic" a "real job."

**Setting a low bar. Strategic.

 Gah. Lettering.

Somehow I can spend three hours drawing tiny cartoon kids
dressed in the world's worst costumes and feel fine,
but ten minutes coloring in letters and I want to gnaw my arm off.

 The whole Peanuts gang!

 Okay, I will give the Peanuts this: those masks are ballers.

 Sally looks weird.

 Charlie Brown Number 1

 True believer

 The Red Baron

 Crazy eyes!

 Crazier eyes!!!

 It's the nose. Or the eyebrows. Or the mouth.

Charlie Brown Number Two! This costume is very impractical.