A Nostalgic Halloween With Decorations Gone Wrong

Christmas Has Arrived in September

I think working in a seasonally advanced retail environment has ruined the "fun" of the seasons for me. I dreaded taking my daughter trick-or-treating until we arrived at the first house.


I watched her run up to the door and say, "Trick or treat." It warmed my heart and I looked forward to the remaining houses around the pond. The wind felt clear and brisk against the clear night.



I listened to the rustling of leaves along the ground as little feet swished their ways through people's lawns and driveways. The smell of wood smoke burning in a nearby chimney and the fluttering sounds of wind bristling the leaves off of the trees.


These were the sounds of a nostalgic Halloween. Have you ever noticed the smell of a pile of leaves? It's not fresh, but it's not disgusting. For some reason, people had lighted nets laying across portions of their lawn. The types that are put out at Christmas. Wait. What the heck is Christmas doing in October?


When did we merge Halloween with Christmas? Somewhere down the line the two have merged and now people decorate their houses vigorously for Halloween with lights on their shrubbery.

A kid came up to me, when trick or treating at the mall, and asks me "Why are there Christmas decorations? It's not Christmas." His mom smiled and tried to hush him up, but I told him "Actually I have no I idea kid."


On my own walk through the Halloween night, I saw many a home decking the halls way too early. They inadvertently tried to sneak in a couple bush lights here and there between the tack-a-licious display of Halloween kitsch.


Kitsch is a word used to describe a tasteless display of stuff that represents present day consumerism gone OCD. It's where people put a swarm of pink flamingos on their lawn and dress them up for every season: Christmas lights and bows, Easter eggs and bunnies, and ghosts intertwined with skeletons.

Now picture a perfectly lovely home with a lawn crowded with styrofoam cemetaries, skeleton hands, pumpkin lights, icicle lights hanging from the roof, and a porch dressed up to look like a ride at Disney World. 


My first thought was, "Man they sure aren't skimping on the light bill." Then as I kept walking, I saw that there wasn't just one or two houses, there were more than twenty. 


When I talked to my mom about it, she blew it off as "Well people do stuff like that to keep the kids spirits up?" I'm thinking what the heck does that mean? 


Halloween spirits will be just fine with the free candy in an economy where people lost their homes and jobs. The fact that people can get something for free, other than a cold, is a miracle.


I don't know about other countries, but in the U.S. we seem to be copying the retailers. We are starting the holidays earlier and merging them together. Pretty soon we'll have several months of Christmas decorations and who knows trees might stay up until Easter.