Growing up in a Christian household, October was always just the month after September, and October 31 was always just another day. There was no spooky season, and there was no Halloween. My parents said that Halloween celebrated the dead, or something to that effect and that there was no place for that in our home. My brothers and I just wanted to dress up and eat candy, but our parents did not want us to partake in Halloween in any fashion. Naturally, I grew up to be a bit indifferent to Halloween. I lived for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which my parents always made sure to make extravagant. While I still do look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas the most out of any holidays, the holiday season starts a little earlier for me since I moved into my own apartment.
My girlfriend's favorite holiday is Halloween. At first, I didn't really understand why, or care to understand why, but now I almost relish in the spooky season as much as she does. I never had any interest in horror films, but she always suggested them whenever we'd sit down to watch something on Netflix, so now I've seen my fair share and don't mind divulging in some scary movies every October. Haunted houses were never on the table, but now we go whenever we can. We even carved some pumpkins last year for the first time. There's a lot of fun to be had and I'm surprised my parents couldn't see that it was all harmless.
I never realized that part of the appeal of this time of year is the aesthetic. The weather starts to change (at least in most places, but I'm in Florida), and all the autumn-themed decorations and scents hit the shelves in stores. Pumpkins, scarecrows, and skeletons are on every lawn and it really creates a vibe that I can appreciate. Especially when paired with the smell outside of fallen leaves, and the smell inside of our cinnamon broom.
Of course, there's the candy. Those variety bags at the supermarket are a godsend. My parents would usually get us some candy when we were kids, but we never went trick-or-treating, so it was usually quite minimal. Now my girlfriend and I just get the candy we want, and we snuggle up in front of the TV for some scary movies or nostalgic old "Goosebumps" episodes. On Halloween we turn it up a notch, getting three times the candy and watching "The Nightmare Before Christmas," the perfect movie for the day that transitions from spooky season to Christmas season. It has everything the both of us need in a movie on October 31.
I'm not mad at my parents for how they handled Halloween and the entire month leading up to it for me and my brothers. I know they were only doing what they thought was right. Since moving out, I have been able to enjoy the tenth month of the year almost as much as I always enjoy November and December.
