Halloweenie

For the last week I’ve spent most of my time trapped in my apartment. After working a youth conference last weekend I came down with what I am calling The Plague, but what is probably more properly termed The Common Cold. I blame the children at the youth conference for bestowing their germs upon me, although no one else on staff got sick that I know of so it is possible that I picked it up somewhere else. But it is more fun to blame the children.

Typically a week locked inside is not a big deal for me so long as I can do things I enjoy and occasionally talk to people on the outside via phone, Zoom, or text. But fall is my favorite time of year, a time I actually enjoy being outside for prolonged periods of time especially when it is the right amount of chilly and I can comfortably wear a sweatshirt without sweating. So yesterday, after my long week indoors, I decided to go out for a drive and wander around some of the great state of New Jersey.

Because of my job I have driven to pretty much every corner of the state: way up to Sussex County, way down to Cumberland County, the length of both the Parkway and the Turnpike, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Delaware River. All over the place. But even with all of this travel, there are innumerable places and towns that I haven’t actually seen. And while I don’t feel the need to see every single town in New Jersey, I enjoy going places I haven’t been to just to see what there is to see. So when I had the urge to be out but had nowhere to go, I decided to do an AdventureLab (a sort of Geocaching guided tour) which took me to some northern shore towns which I’d never been to before.

Yesterday was beautiful and sunny, but also chilly enough to still feel like fall even at midday. This particular AdventureLab took me through several different towns. As I was driving around, searching for the waypoints I was tasked with finding, I saw in several places little children dressed up for Halloween and walking with their parents. They were clearly walking to a destination, not just wandering around their town.

I found this interesting and concluded that the towns must be putting on some kind of pre-Halloween celebration, a Trunk or Treat or something of the like. This reminded me of my own childhood Halloween days which in turn made me feel half nostalgic and half “hey get off my lawn” about the whole thing.

Yesterday was October 19th. Halloween is October 31st. I found myself thinking that the 19th was a little early to already be celebrating Halloween. It’s like when towns move their Fourth of July parades and end up celebrated a week an a half beforehand at the end of June - it makes no sense. Halloween is a set date every year; it doesn’t move around like Labor Day or Election Day, which are always the same day but different dates. I do not like it when people decide to move Halloween to a more convenient date. You can’t move Halloween! It is always only on October 31st!

I don’t really have a problem with pre-Halloween events. It extends the fun and I understand that, logistically, everyone in town cannot do their Halloween events on the same day. That would be chaos. But I guess you could call me a purist in that, for me, the fun of Halloween is that it all falls on one specific day.

As a kid I remember the excitement that built up as the 31st approached. I would try on my costume at home, but it wouldn’t be revealed to my friends until we actually went trick or treating together. The weather was always an unknown; sometimes I would worry for days that it would be too cold and I’d be forced to wear a jacket and ruin my costume. I would strategize ways to wear warmer clothes under the costume to avoid such tragedy. Friends and I would also strategize the best neighborhoods to go to for trick or treating: a good number of houses, not too far apart, neighborhoods with lots of Halloween decorations already out so that you knew they would be participating by giving out candy.

When the actual day came it was more exciting to me than prom. Getting dressed up in a costume and experiencing the limited freedom of going out without parents to ring doorbells and get free candy. What a fine line between fun and potentially sort of dangerous, my kind of thrill. Then returning home with a pillowcase full of candy, dumping it on the floor, and sorting it all out, trading with my friends or my sister for candy I found more palatable. Just such a good time.

Sure, if Halloween was a Tuesday it put a little damper on the fun because we’d have to go to bed early enough to get up in time for school. A Friday or Saturday Halloween was obviously the best, but these things could not be controlled, in my mind. The 31st fell when it fell and we worked with it.

I think I had aged out of trick or treating the first time my town moved trick or treating to another date, whatever weekend evening was closest to actual Halloween. Even though all of the activities would have been the same, with the added bonus of being able to stay up as late as we wanted after trick or treating, I think I still would have been a little bit bummed. Trick or treating on any day other than October 31st just feels wrong. It’s like celebrating your birthday a week before the actual day. I’d be grateful for the celebration, but also a little bit wondering, “what am I supposed to do on my real birthday now?” Yeah, I’m selfish like that.

I do not begrudge the children their pre-Halloween festivities (even though they gave me The Plague). The longer we can spread out the fun, the better. Why not? Life is difficult, best to make it fun where you can. But I also know that one day I will be the old lady who spoils the fun by reminiscing about how in my day, Halloween was celebrated on October 31st, not moved around for convenience.

Who am I kidding? I already am that old lady. See above re: me complaining about Halloween being moved. But even though I am in general no fun, I do hope to one day live in a house which I can decorate for Halloween, and enjoy giving out candy and bringing the excitement of the holiday to the younger generations. Even if they do it on the wrong day.