Halloween "Humbug"

Ghosts, pirates, witches, wizards, firemen, ballerinas, bumblebees,….   Each year on Halloween, fantasies come to life.  It is the one day when anyone who wants to, not just Hollywood actors, can put on a costume and become “someone else” for a short while.  

 

Houses get decorated.   Parties are planned.  Candy is bought.  Amusement parks provide spooky thrills.  Old horror movies run late at night on TV.

Somewhere over the years, I lost track of what the holiday is actually about.   I enjoy seeing the little kids under 7 or 8 come to the door for “trick or treat”.  This is the age when little ones love to play dress up and hold pretend tea parties or build pillow bridges to crawl under.   But, I don’t understand the teens and pre-teens who wear a baseball hat and then tell me they are “a baseball player” while holding a pillow case out to be filled with candy.   I smile and hand out the candy, but each year it gets harder and harder to make the effort.

Yet, there are so many things that I love about fall…

…I love the Southern California fall which is a very subtle transition from summer with the cooler nighttime air and night skies coming earlier and earlier in the evening.

…I love the crunch of leaves as they show up on my walks and the colors of the pumpkins and fall flowers. 

…I love the college football games on Saturday.

…I love a good bowl of potato-leek soup with fresh leeks from the tail-end of my garden harvest.

I guess that Halloween may no longer be my holiday…and so, I fear I’ve turned into a Halloween “humbug”.   I wonder if there is a costume that fits this feeling.