Usually, the Halloween post would be done by Ellen. She is the queen of Halloween. In her home, she has skeletons that remain in place all year long. She has figurines and all manner of cool ghostly decorations. But, she’s been doing all the posting lately, so it’s my turn.
Halloween is one of my favorite evenings. I love the idea of dressing up and going door to door. In times when communities were safer and tighter knit, this tradition was a wonderful way to touch base with neighbors and build closeness.
Then somewhere along the line, people started doing nasty things to candy. Children started getting hurt by the nasty people. Instead of simply opting out and not giving any treats, people gave out poisoned goodies or some with needles in them. It became dangerous to go out and ring doorbells dressed up as your favorite character or ghoul.
Today, you don’t have as many kids out trick or treating. Communities have shifted to having private Halloween parties. Churches, those that don’t take it as an evil holiday, host some as well. It is sad to see this moment of community building leaving our world.
I remember having the opportunity to dress up at school when it fell on a school day. When I first started teaching, I dressed up as an evil witch and read ghost stories. Then they started trying to control even that part of our lives. First, it was decreed you could only dress up as a character from a book. Happily, there are tons of witch characters to choose from.
In my new school, dressing up can only be done if your costume represents a science vocabulary word from the school provided word bank. Some kids came dressed up like a cloud, or prey, or a predator (not my favorite predator though). I considered being a black hole. You know, wearing a black skirt with a round puff ball representing the star I was slowly eating. But that word was not in the approved word bank.
So, today, I just wore a lovely black skirt with some skull decorations on the sides and a red top. I still read them some Halloween inspired stories. We enjoyed the poem “The Spider and the Fly” as well as the picture book “Bats in the Library.” We read the humorous “Velcome” and I shared my Witchy Christmas story. We also used “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick” to inspire our spooky quick writes.
By the way, I will be reading my Witchy Christmas story at this year’s Haunted Holidays readings on November 9th. Come out and join me and Ellen as well as the other amazing authors who will be there at Brazos Bookstore this year.
Would love to hear how you see the situation with Halloween celebrations and some of your outfits this year, so please take a moment to comment. Oh, and, Happy Halloween everyone.
Saturday, November 18, starting at 6pm, writers from Houston Writers Guild and Women in the Visual and Literary Arts will be at Brazos Bookstore for the annual Haunted Holidays Short Story Reading. This event began as the brainchild of the amazing 
If you are a writer and would like to read a story that evening, there are still some spots available. You can register on the information page on the 
I will note that I did vote for my favorite decorated pumpkin. I won’t tell you which one I voted for. We will just have to wait and see.
stores looking for some Thanksgiving decorations. I did not want a pumpkin and I did not need any fake fall leaves to scatter around. I need turkeys! No, not the kind you cook in the oven. I have been looking for silly hats and other turkey accoutrement, because the skeletons want to dress up after Halloween and commemorate the fowl holiday. They always enjoy dressing up for all holidays, but this is the first year they have asked about Thanksgiving. Finally I found a few items on Amazon. 
October is here and I couldn’t be happier! Both I and several of my neighbors are in the midst of pulling out our Halloween decorations for all the world to see! Grim Reapers, hard of hearing Skeletons, Ghosts, Goblins, Witches and all variation of spooky creatures are popping up everywhere. Have you and your neighbors started with this annual tradition? Scary and spooky movies are beginning to pop up everywhere as well. The weather is beautiful. Why not go outside and try to scare somebody?
Of course, if you’re like me, you’ve had decorations up all year round. I just add a little bit more every year and tweak a few things. However, witches and skeletons remain my favorites. It is always fun to see how many ways I can include Halloween decorations in all aspects of my home decor. Then when September 1st comes around, I slowly begin to move things outside. Slowly at first. Nothing too showy. Until Now!!! Once October 1st shows up, then all bets are off.
Here are a few of my friends just sitting outside enjoying the beautiful (for Houston) Fall weather. As long as the days are sunny and the temperatures stay below 95 degrees, I decree that Autumn has arrived. Up until now these skeletal folk have remained pretty quiet. That’s all going to change this weekend. I have lights and I have sound effects and I intend to use them! It used to be that I never saw Halloween decorations in the stores until September. This year I found really cool stuff out early — which is fine as far as Halloween is concerned. For years people have chided me for decorating too early or too much. My dreams have come true. I am now the crazy old cat lady with just a few too many skeletons and I don’t care. Enjoy!
It gives me hope to see my neighbors enjoying this Holiday as much as I do. I personally always think about Halloween as that time when we can look at scary things and enjoy them. Maybe have a good laugh. Share the joy with friends. Some might say that there is so much to be scared about this year, that we have to have Halloween so our own ghosts and goblins can scare away the frightening events that we can’t control. Enjoy the season! My biggest regret this year is that I don’t subscribe to the Disney channel. I am working on ways to see the movie Hocus Pocus 
