Anyone that knows me knows this. It’s my favorite holiday, the one event that I buy stuff for all year round. The one thing that brings me unbounded joy. I’ve successfully passed this feeling on to my 6-year-old and 4-year-old (he’s easily the most hardcore Halloween lover I’ve ever known, so I can die happy now… unless it turns into a Rob Zombie situation, then well, we’ll cross that money bridge when we get there! HAH!). Who else do you know that went to Salem, Massachusettes, the Halloween capitol of the world, for her 30th birthday IN OCTOBER?!
I’ve never had to explain my obsession with Halloween in writing before, so here goes! Add yours in too, because we all know that it’s the best day of the year!
1. I love to be scared.
Thinking that ghosts are real, someone jumping out and yelling ‘boo,’ a haunted Jack the Ripper walk through the streets of London, watching Paranormal Activity in a basement that is clearly a 60-year-old crypt (we rented a charming house when we first moved to Virginia and I have SO MANY stories about that place being haunted)… the list goes on and on. It’s really a weird thing, right? I don’t know where it comes from or why I love the macabre so much, but hey – little known facts, I guess?
2. This one is almost too easy (but also might explain a few things)… MY BIRTHDAY MONTH!
I have an excuse to always ask for Halloween things as gifts; it rounds out the best month of the year – don’t pretend you don’t have that “in a world where there are Octobers” quote memorized – and COSTUME PARTY! HELLO! No party topped the year I turned 8, dressed up as I Dream of Jeannie, and had a roller rink bash. Seriously. Top that, childhood memories! It’s also my wedding anniversary month because OF COURSE I got married in October. Y’all. October is LIFE.
3. It’s now a tradition for our family to win the neighborhood Halloween Costume Contest. (OK, so really, it’s Olivia that wins, but you know, me too.)
My daughter, Olivia, uses a wheelchair and that gives us SUCH a leg up (hello, disability PRIDE!) on creativity. For our first win, she was a spider and we were all poor souls that she’d wrapped up in web and was ready to eat. This year, she’s going as Bullet Bill from Mario World and the rest of us poor souls are the characters trying not to get bonked.
4. Fall, cold, fall, it’s no longer summer, and more fall.
That’s another big one most of you know about me, but it’s true. I hate all things summer, hot weather, sunshine, and so on. I should probably have been born a vampire, which hello! even more fitting, right?!
5. My entire family (including grandparents that have since passed away) love this holiday.
Not only is it a family affair, but it’s something we all have in common. That doesn’t happen often, especially when you’re all adults. My Grandma Jean loved it, so it also feels like one lasting connection I have with her from my childhood. It’s just always been a really special time that brings us all together. And, just because I love it so much, here’s a bunch of pictures from Octobers/Halloweens throughout the years.
