October 1st is the start of all things spooky. Halloween means endless scary movies, rewatching the classics (Hocus Pocus!), and the spooky episode of your favorite show. It means candy on clearance starting November 1st. It means getting your friends together for the cutest costumes and letting your creativity shine. Decorations scatter the stores so options are everywhere, or you could try a DIY. You can carve pumpkins, eat pumpkin pie, drink pumpkin spice lattes. Pumpkin everything. You can drown in apple cider, because October just makes it more delicious. You can go to a haunted house so scary you'll pee your pants, and you will love every second of it.
As a kid, it means something completely different. It means finding the perfect costume (or being a princess for four years in a row). I miss trick-or-treating with my cousins and coming back to the house to trade candy. It's a time of silliness, something I would look forward to every year. The candy would last me until Christmas, or longer. Although I'm a little too old to dress up and beg at doors for candy, the spirit is still alive. My brother keeps the excitement going, and one day I'll be able to share this experience with my own kids.
Keep your Christmas decorations and cold weather to yourself. Give Halloween it's time to shine. The day after Halloween, you can feel free to put out all the lights and trees and start playing Christmas music, even if it is still too early. I won't care. I'll be out buying discount candy.
