I happen to be one who loves it.  

I know I’m going to get slammed for this, but when the Nightmare Before Christmas movie first came out, I was NOT a fan.  It took several viewings of the DVD to finally get it.  I loved the music from the start, but I just had a hard time with the weird creatures and the interchanging of the holidays… From an avid holiday decorator’s point of view, I was a purist. Christmas and Halloween did not belong together. Not no way. Not no how!  But slowly over time, due to my husband’s incessant viewing habits and Danny Elfman’s incredible soundtrack, it finally started to sink in my dense brain that this was imagination at its finest!   And I relaxed a bit on my puritanical point of view.

In 2001, Disney introduced the Haunted Mansion Holiday to the Mansion, and there it was…in my face, neon colors blazing and glowing, flickering pumpkins and candles everywhere, and these quirky characters with which I had developed an affectionate understanding, right there so close and so real.  I was instantly in awe and in love.  

Fast forward a few years later and in 2003 Nightmare Before Christmas celebrated 10 years of frightful fun, Haunted Mansion Holiday is well established in the park and Walt Disney Collectibles released some great goodies to celebrate!  Jody Daily, Disney artist extraordinaire, designed Sally the Seamstress Lamp and when I saw it in the Disney Catalog, now Disneyshopping.com, my knees buckled a bit.  I just adore this lamp.  And I couldn’t think of a better piece to introduce the Haunted Mansion Holiday Collectibles section to my blog.  Ok, this lamp doesn’t really have anything to do with HMH.  But I don’t care, its my blog and I can cry if I want to… I mean, do what I want to!  

Enough talk.. let’s start ogling, shall we?

See the basket in her hand? It dangles and moves and melts my heart.

Thank you, Jody, for creating this piece.  It is solid and weighty (thanks to all the metal) and yet delicate and whimsical.  Perfection! 

I plan on sharing my experiences from the Haunted Mansion Event, but it took awhile for me to digest everything in that whirlwind week.  So look for the post soon and thanks for stopping by.