There is something really unique about this time of the year. The leaves are falling. The days are getting shorter. The nights are cooler. Halloween is near. It’s a fascinating time. The last blast of nice weather. The ever-present knowledge that much colder air, along with snow and ice, is just around the corner.
Cold enough to have to turn the heat on at night. Warm enough in the daytime to cut the heat off. Warm enough to keep the potted plants outside — at least those that survived the early frost this past weekend. But realizing their time outside is very limited.
The grass cutting season has ended. The lawn mower can take a well-deserved break for the fall and winter months. If the grass keeps growing — fine. The next frost or snow will slow it down. It’s Halloween after all. Folks don’t cut the grass anymore around Halloween.
With only three days remaining before the most frightening holiday of the year, the store shelves housing Halloween costumes are now almost empty. Parents who have not yet found that perfect costume for their children will have to hurry. There isn’t much time left.
Halloween is hitting on a Saturday this year, which should be interesting. If current conditions hold, the weather should still be nice. That means there should be plenty of trick-or-treaters out and about across the region.
Lots of folks will be on the road with the holiday falling on a Saturday. As a result, motorists will have to slow down, and drive with extra caution to ensure the safety of thousands of trick-or-treaters across the area.
Many others will settle in for a good scary movie for the night. Most cable channels will run all-day and all-night horror marathons. Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger, Jig Saw and all of the favorite big-screen bad guys will be playing on different channels throughout the night. If you love horror movies, it’s a great night to watch television. If you hate horror movies, you will find yourself channel flipping to no avail.
I haven’t been much of a Halloween person in recent years. Don’t get me wrong — I love the holiday, but I also realize it is mostly a day for kids, and not adults. Sure, I attended all of the Halloween parties and such back in college, but I tend to be more reserved now as I get older. Plus, I tend to avoid driving along the road when trick-or-treaters are out and about.
But when you think about it, Halloween is really the last big event before the official kick-off of the holiday season. Once the calendar hits Nov. 1, the holiday season is more or less well underway. You can’t avoid it. Christmas decorations will start popping up everywhere. Stores will be cluttered with holiday gifts and hopefully holiday shoppers. Christmas music will begin playing at the mall, and at stores both big and small. And believe it or not, we will be only two months away from the year 2010.
That’s if we can survive the upcoming end-of-the-world disaster movie called “2012.” If you haven’t seen the trailer for this big budget movie yet, I’ll give you a quick and simple summary. Everything blows up. Buildings. Roads. Bridges. You name it — this movie apparently destroys it. There is nothing quite like an end-of-the-world disaster movie to help kick off the holiday season.
The sad thing about it is many, many people will race out to see this movie — thanks to all of the hysteria over the Mayan calendar supposedly ending with the year 2012. Remember Y2K? The world wasn’t supposed to end back then but computers across the world were still supposed to crash bringing society as we know it to a standstill. It didn’t happen. There was a Y2K movie as well at the time that showed airplanes crashing, and lights going out across the globe, which helped to add to the whole Y2K hysteria almost a decade ago.
With all of that being said, I’ll have to confess I will probably be one of those gullible movie goers waiting in line to see “2012.” The trailer certainly catches your attention. Plus, the disaster flick could provide a welcomed distraction from all of the hustle of the holiday season.
For now, we’ve got three more days left to enjoy our Jack O’lanterns. Then it’s time to drag Rudolph, and the rest of the trusty reindeers, out of the attic. Then we’ll have to choose between the old artificial tree or find that perfect live Christmas tree.
In between all of that work, there will be that nagging little list of folks you know you have to buy for this holiday season. How do you find the perfect gift for that very difficult person who already has everything there is to buy?
Yes, the joyous and, at times, stressful holiday season is near.
But first, there’s Halloween.
Ready or not, the scariest night of the year is fast approaching. Enjoy it. Because the seasons are changing quickly. Before you know it, there will be snow on the ground.
Charles Owens is the Daily Telegraph’s city editor. Contact him at cowens@bdtonline.com.
Columns
October 27, 2009
Indulge in Halloween before the holiday stress, and snow, arrives
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