Halloween has been one of my all time favourite holidays. From the time I was about 9 or 10 right up until I had my own kids. Before then, it was Xmas, and after … yeah, Xmas (Yuletide – all those awesome family holidays through the winter months). I’m not sure if it is that my kids are really young still, or that Calgary’s autumn is unreliable at best, and tending to disappear without notice, but I don’t get that awesome spooky chill that I used to get as October wears down.
What I do get is a kind of nesting/planning compulsion. Presents, decorations, lights, new coats, new mitts, where are the best sledding hills in our new neighbourhood? What sort of desserts, casseroles and stews should I make? My husband mentioned that Halloween is a 20-something’s holiday. Trick or treating is going out of style, replaced with harvest parties. Decorative gourds stand in for traditional jack-o-lanterns.
The chill in the air doesn’t whisper of secrets and ghosts anymore. It bites and nips with warnings of harsh temperatures and long, deep freezes on the horizon. And that kind of feeling makes me wish for warm fires and sparkly lights.
Snow hasn’t come for us yet. Not to stay anyway. I think that I will take the kids out today to hunt for acorns (if the squirrels have left us any). Also, I am going to make a pumpkin spice bundt cake.
A Less Travelled Path 