My favorite season has always been, and will likely always be winter. I love snow, blankets, peppermint drinks, and flannels. Through my years in college, however, fall has shot up from my least favorite season to my second favorite (a close second at least right now.) As a college student, trekking through the snow on my way to class is not my favorite thing, nor is the rain, but there's something about the brisk chill in the air that comes with fall that really gets me going.
When I was younger, fall was synonymous with school. Not that I didn't love school, but it meant that nothing really happened outside. I was busy with homework and extracurriculars that I had no time to enjoy the leaves or the brisk air.
The first day I wake up to a chill, I guarantee you I am wearing one of my flannels and my combat boots, ready to take on fall head on.
There are so many events in the month of Halloween. I'm leading a retreat out in Woodstock, where the leaves will be falling and the air will be clean and I will have flannels and sweaters galore. We have a harvest fest later in October, and there will be pumpkin painting and a bonfire. We have crypt tours of our chapel, which I've been told are "super spooky."
And then there's Halloween. A day when people go out and party, or a day, if you're like me, where you cozy up with your black cat and watch scary movies. All month I'll be watching "Hocus Pocus" and "Halloweentown," but I'll save "It" and "The Blair Witch Project" for Halloween night. Halloween is on a Wednesday this year, which I'm sure for many, harshes the buzz of "let's go crazy in flirty costumes!" For me, Halloween on a Wednesday means I don't feel like I'm missing out on parties or not doing the "typical college Halloween."
I don't like Pumpkin Spice. I never have and I likely never will. But I love spiced apples, and I love cinnamon smells. I love leaves crunching under my feet.
Just as I'm writing this article, I'm watching "Beetlejuice" in my memory. That's how many times I've watched spooky movies. I love fuzzy socks, and I love reading curled up under a blanket. Granted those are also winter things, but I can start in fall.
Halloween for me has become synonymous with fall. And yes, I sometimes say happy Halloween 1st when it becomes October. I also occasionally play "When October Goes" by Barry Manilow at the end of the month.
Happy Halloween. Happy October. Happy fall!
