Last week, I decorated the house for Halloween! I realize that many people think this a ridiculous use of time for an adult, but I still love to transition the house during certain holidays with special decorations, visual signals – if you will, of the change in seasons. So I decorate for Thanksgiving, Christmas – especially Christmas in my house!, a few Valentine’s Day items, Easter/Spring, and even a few things for the 4th of July. And yes – that dance through the year includes Halloween.
This started for me, as far as I can tell, when I was still in elementary school. I loved how my teachers transformed the classroom for each month and holiday, so I took it upon myself to do the same for my room at home. Something in me, even as a youngster, loved the visual signs of change. In an ode to my already anal retentive personality, I had files and organized the decorations to keep them save when stored away.
As an adult, I continued this tradition, though not the monthly ritual of it, as a way to remember that youthful past, to remind myself to take the time to note the season’s change. To embrace what it means as time passes, as we transition throughout life and the year. Instead of seeing it as a waste of time or juvenile, for me it insists that I not take life too seriously – even as I note its fleeting nature, how it always seems like just yesterday that I put these decorations away.
And Halloween decorations bring meaning different from all other holidays or seasons. They represent scary images, right from the darker parts of my mind that I tap into when I write horror. As I write this blog, a ceramic skull glows at me. They bring fond memories, such as the cross-stitch pictures my mom made for me that hang on the walls. They make me laugh, like the silly ceramic and giggling ghost that sits next to my bed. And they even harken to the original meanings of Halloween – as a way to remember those who came before me, as a time when the line between the living and dead blurs and crossover becomes easier. The summer and warm weather slowly disappears and the chill autumn air warns of winter harshness to come.
I even managed to expand the decorations this year, despite always insisting that I have enough decorations and no time to put more up. Somehow a 4′ black tree with orange lights appeared! What?! Spooky fun!
Happy Halloween, everyone. Take some time to decorate for it.