Hallowend

Ah Halloween...I have loved you a long time. But I think I need a break from you. 

I have spent years and countless dollars wooing trick-or-treaters to my door with top of the line candy and ever more elaborate decorations. I have carved pumpkins into vicious specters, smiling jacks, foul demons and pop culture characters. I have built ghouls with reaching arms and glowing eyes. I've boarded up my windows, gotten tangled up in "spider webs" and agonized over which spooky sounds CD to play. I've argued with malfunctioning fog machines and threatened plastic skeletons with dismemberment. I've planted ground breakers in gravel and grass and mulch and delighted in little people skittering around them. Countless afternoons have been spent searching the internet for instructions on how to make this or create that. I've studied my candy hoard and wondered if maybe, just maybe I should go get some more - because I do NOT ration what I give. 

Halloween celebrations at my house have long been a free-for-all and I've enjoyed the festivities to the hilt every year. I have reveled in the admiration of neighborhood kids and preened in the oohs and aahs of their parents. My husband and I started planning months in advance for how to be bigger and scarier than the year before. And each year we've succeeded. 

THIS year we did the same as we always have. Built and planned, crafted and carved. But THIS year was different. There was little joy in either the preparation or the execution. It felt like obligation and routine. The magic was gone. 

So, we are taking a break. Stepping away until it's fun again. Scare on everyone. Scare on. 

Till we scream again....