It's Almost Halloweeeeen....

I’m sitting outside on my lunch break on this unseasonably warm day and thinking thoughts of Halloween. The wind has picked up and is blowing heaps of dried leaves across the sidewalk.  Were it gloomy and cold, the sound of them skittering across the pavement would be appropriately creepy.

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In the past I was never too jazzed about this holiday, mainly because I don’t enjoy being scared (and I don’t actually believe in goblins and witches and whatnot). When I was a child, I always went trick-or-treating in costume with my siblings, but I didn’t necessarily look forward to it with the anticipation of say, Thanksgiving or my birthday.  In college, I worked the night shift at my job for this holiday specifically so I could watch the parade of poor life choices walk by the front desk as my fellow students came and went from their various all hallows shenanigans. Nothing was more amusing fascinating than a seeing group of scantily-clad “Fanta Girls” leave all excited, talking loudly of how awesome their night was going to be, only to return 6 hours later, bedraggled and disappointed, and more than a little drunk.

That sounds so judgmental. Don’t worry, I’ve mellowed.

Anyway, I’ve come to appreciate it in recent years. If only because I enjoy any excuse to get together with friends.  Also, it happens at a perfect time. Summer is long over and we haven’t quite reached the beginning of the holidays. And I’m never going to say no to free candy. Well, unless it’s being offered to me by a sketchy man in an unmarked van. Then no, sir, I do not want your candy or your kidnappings.

Last year was possibly the best Halloween on record. I attended a little get together in eastern PA and it was one of the best weekends I’ve ever had, despite getting snowed in (!!!) on Saturday. We carved pumpkins, wore hilarious costumes, had amazing food, played games, and pretty much laughed our faces off. Since I don’t live on the East Coast at the moment, sadly that particular gathering is too far for me to attend this year.

However, I’m hoping for a similarly awesome good time this coming weekend at a get together down at my alma mater.  It’s a great group of people so I’m sure it will be. My costume is still coming together (it’s a themed number with my brother) but I’m not sure anything can top last year’s dinosaur costume. I mean, it was basically an adult onesie with a tail. Comfortable AND functional. I’d totally wear it again, but it is currently languishing in a closet in Massachusetts, out of my reach.

In the spirit of a Halloween, here are a few of my favorite things in that vein:

+ Taste: the themed baking possibilities are endless: candy witches' brooms! gummies shaped like body parts! Popcorn balls (used to love these as a kid)! Cupcakes decorated like mummies!

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+ Touch: there are approximately 40 million crafts you can do with a pumpkin. If carving a toothy grin isn’t your style, you can paint cool designs on them, cut out fun shapes for a rad effect when lit, or my personal favorite, put fangs in them:

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+ Smell: my favorite Halloween-y scents: caramel, hot apple cider, and of course bonfire

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+ See :

            -Read: Bunnicula, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and anything by
             Edgar Allen Poe

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-Watch : Hocus Pocus (obviously), Casper, The Witches, The Addams Family, and pretty much anything ever made by Tim Burton, but Frankenweenie in particular.
-Little kids in costume. Seriously there is nothing cuter. Except for maybe that cat with bat wings at the top of this post.

+ Hear: 

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-the scratching of branches on the windows during a windy night

-creaky wooden floors

-a dog barking on a far away street

-a cat purring

-the hiss and crackle of a fire

-the hollow thunk of a jack-o-lantern when you've gotten all the seeds out

-currently the Coraline soundtrack is on repeat in my office (which is also an appropriately spooky movie if you’re interested)