About Me

My photo
Married to GI Joe, and the Mother to GI Joe Jr (whom is currently addicted to the Wonderful World of Superheroes), I'm a WV Hillbilly plunked down in a subdivision. I have a backyard garden, crazy neighbors, and a goofy dog that we love on Tuesdays. We love to travel and explore new things, so feel free to browse our life. Sometimes it is exciting, most of the time it is just life. But we are having a good time at it.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Why do I love Halloween....

Why do I love Halloween...my absolute favorite Holiday of all?

Let's see, shall we?

First: It's fall. I love fall. The stiffling bearing down on you muddy air heat is GONE. Once again, I can breathe without my lungs screaming at me and my nasal passages wanting to close up out of self preservation. When we first moved to Virginia from the cool breezy hills of West Virginia in 2001, I honestly thought I was going to die. It was sooo bloody stinking HOT. HOT when I left for work. HOTTER all day. HOT on the drive home. HOT when it got dark. HOT at 2am. HOT. I hate the heat.

Second: The colors...I guess that falls under 'it's fall'. I miss the mountains back home and the wash of colors this time of the year. I love the piles of pumpkins at stores. I love the gourds, and the haybales. I love the scarecrows and silly Halloween decorations. This weekend, on our drive to West Virginia, someone had taken a roll of hay, some flexible drainage pipe and had made a spider out of it...pretty cool. Then added mannequin legs sticking out of its mouth. Cute!

Third: The holiday itself is just fun. Fun to set up for the trick or treaters. Fun for my little one to dress up. He's a cow this year if anyone wants to know. He wants me to be a cow too...I'm ok with not dressing up as a cow. We get loads of trick or treaters, and we have such a good time.

Fourth: And this is my main reason for loving Halloween.

IT IS GUILT FREE.

No one exchanges presents at Halloween (except the obligatory handing out of candy to the TOT'rs.) There is no rushing to get all the presents wrapped, and in the car, and under the tree, and in the mail.

There are no guilt trips from ANYONE for not visiting over the Halloween Holiday.

No one is cooking a huge meal, or expecting you to cook a huge meal on the Halloween Holiday. No muss, no fuss, order a pizza!

There is no driving to one person's house for two hours, and another person's house for two hours...and making sure you spend equal time at both houses or you will hear about it for the next stinking year how Person's House #1 got 10 more minutes during the Halloween Holiday.

There are no awkward moments of everyone just sitting around looking at each other when they have run out of presents, food, etc.

The stores stay open.

There are no awkward gifts. Like when your mom buys you an XL sweater and says 'since you seem to keep gaining weight, I went up a size for you'.

There are no phone calls on Halloween morning where someone is complaining that you are not there Halloween Morning, and that they always did (insert some weird special tradition that you don't remember) on Halloween Morning with you and they miss that.

There are no phone calls through Halloween Day with the same above scenario.

There are no obligatory phone calls to be made to relatives you haven't spoken to in months on Halloween Day. Sometimes they join in the 'why aren't you back home Halloween' guilting.

There are cute photos of my kid with a pumpkin bucket and his costume of choice. His nose is running, yes, it's cold outside and my mom will continue to comment that his nose is running in the pictures I sent her for the next two years...but he's having a ball. Or last year, when it was so hot, she had to keep talking about how he was sweating in his raincoat (he was a thrown together fireman since the dinosaur costume suddenly was not his thing)...and how concerned she was for him...days later...after Halloween...she was concerned.

We get to do pumpkin patches to our heart's content for an entire month and let him just run and smack the big ol' pumpkins in the rows. And we buy too many every year. But you can't have too many pumpkins can you?

I didn't get to do Halloween very much as a kid. Our community church had a big party and that was fun. We dressed up, played games, had fun. We were so rural, that trick or treating was not an option. Trick or Get Shot was more like it...and the kids would cut down trees across the road to block the school busses. I remember my driver having a chainsaw on the bus in the few days leading up and after Halloween every year. It was what it was.

I love Trick or Treating, and will even give out candy to the kids that don't dress up. Ask them what they are...they just look at you and hold out their pillowcase. Oh well...here.

I love Halloween...it's the most wonderful time of the year!

No comments:

Popular Posts