As the telltale signs of autumn envelop us, familiar sights have cropped up in Midwestern neighborhoods. Much as golden and crimson leaves adorn the trees, we’ve decorated our homes to suit the season.

Some of us have opted for a more subdued nod to the harvest, setting out pumpkins and potted mums, while others have gone whole hog on Halloween. We know many young families who turn after-dinner walks into a bona fide neighborhood tour, hunting for the best-decorated houses to ogle. Larger-than-life skeletons — some as big as trucks, torsos erupting from the ground — have become suburban staples alongside massive Bluey inflatables, not to mention life-sized zombies and scarecrows that jump out at you when you walk by.

This is what life is meant to be like in the fall around these parts.

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