Be still my beating heart, it has finally happened. The Spirit Halloween Store has opened. Halloween is coming. Really. My decorating has begun. Of course some of you might say I never stop decorating for Halloween. That is true of course, but I do try to be subtle about it from December to August. Actually, I haven’t shopped at the Spirit Halloween Store yet this year. I was there the morning of their opening day. Unfortunately, they didn’t open until that afternoon. Bummer. I left crushed and devastated, but determined to go back.
Then life got interesting in the only way it can in Houston during September. A storm formed in the Gulf of Mexico. It was heading towards the Texas Coast. Landfall would be close to Houston. We were expecting a lot of rain. At the last minute the storm intensified and we were visited by Hurricane Nicholas.
A writer friend of mine reminded me of the movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. That was the movie where the Pumpkin King tried to kidnap Santa Claus and take over the Christmas holiday. Now we just experienced a hurricane named Nicholas. Could that possibly be Saint Nicholas? Was Christmas trying to kidnap Halloween? The weather was certainly fitting of a dark and stormy night. My electricity went out, but luckily I have a lot of Halloween decorations that light up. Why use regular old flashlights when I have skulls, pumpkins and haunted houses that give off fun colorful lighting.
Now I have often accused Christmas of attempting to bump Halloween out of the way when Holiday trees and wreaths start showing up in stores before Halloween. Of course this year, thanks to the global pandemic, people are being encouraged to start Holiday shopping now. We must do everything we can to save Halloween from both Covid 19 and Hurricane St. Nicholas.
Once the rain cleared out, the flooding subsided and my electricity came back on, I re-started my efforts at setting my Halloween decorations outside. I think my neighbors are used to me doing this by now.
I also noticed that there are pumpkins for sale at local stores. Another sure sign that both Halloween and Fall are right around the corner. This picture was taken at a local grocery store. Yep, that’s a palm tree in the middle of the pumpkin patch. That’s how we roll with Halloween here in Houston. And I still have my first annual visit to the Spirit Halloween Store to look forward to!
There are even rumors that we might experience a cold front next week. That means that the daytime high temperatures go from the mid 90’s to the mid 80’s. Time to get out the sweaters.
Until next time.….