Fall is my favorite time of year, filled with all of my favorite things. Beautiful brightly colored leaves, followed by the crunch they leave underfoot as they drift to the ground. Pumpkins, followed by delicious pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie and pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin bread and, of course, pumpkin carving. Halloween followed by Thanksgiving. Crisp mornings followed by perfect sweatshirt-cozy evenings. Apples, pears, the season's best squash, and trick or treaters.
It's a beautiful and rare 80 degree Friday here in WI. And it is October. I should be appreciating every moment of what is probably going to be considered our Indian Summer, especially knowing what is looming with a flip of the calendar month. You know...that nasty, yet inevitable, 4-letter S word??
But for now, my focus is narrowed to Halloween. I thank my mother for my insane love for Halloween which began when I was a child. Mom had a collection of decorations for each holiday season and for as long as I can remember, her mechanical witch was part of her Halloween collection. I STILL love (and covet) that witch and have never seen one exactly like it.
As young children, she made our costumes every year. Off the top of my head I recall a clown costume (even though I was horribly sick with a cold and my face makeup was smeared everywhere), a Care Bear, and a witch complete with homemade green face paint and a big fake creepy nose. When we were young, they would take us trick-or-treating, but as we got older we were allowed, in the good ol days ;), to go alone. Those were the days when you could trick-or-treat until long after dark and it felt like we would walk for miles and miles hauling heavy sacks of candy. When we'd get home, mom and dad would have to inspect the candy and somehow when we got it back it was inevitably missing a few "potentially dangerous" pieces.
As I got older, my love for Halloween got stronger. I started to grow my own collection of decor, picking things up here and there that I liked. While mom's style of decorating was more "autumn country living", mine was focused on the creepier stuff out there. Since then, I have amassed an enormous collection. Each year I try to add at least one new awesome piece to the mix and once the first hint of cool air hits us, my brain is wired for Halloween. I begin planning the (almost) yearly costume party and figuring out where I'm going to put things. We already have big plans for this year, which include my husband building some props.
When I met Tom, he hated Halloween. Not atypical of a man's perspective, he thought it was "stupid". He hated haunted houses- one of my favorite fall activities. He didn't care about handing out candy, didn't want to get dressed up for parties. He was definitely raised differently than I was and he is convinced he cannot be scared.
It may have taken a lot of years, but apparently living with someone who is as obsessed as I am seems to have an affect on your own excitement toward something like Halloween. Truthfully, he never had a chance. He is surrounded by it. He even comes to haunted houses with me now. He may pretend to put up a fight, I know he gets the same adrenaline rush we all get!
Just a month or two ago he came home with a surprise he had bought for me. A life-size wooden coffin. To anyone else, that may have been the craziest gift ever, but it could not have been more perfect for me. Just another reason I am crazy in love with that man.
No comments:
Post a Comment