By The Way...

Look who was waiting for me this morning when I got up -- our Halloween scarecrow and all his little Halloween friends. Yes, we're jumping the gun a little on Halloween here in the Scalzi household, because we're big fans of the holiday for reasons both esthetic (Krissy's just a little teeny bit goth) and practical (The presence of Halloween is the only thing which keeps retailers from stocking Christmas items in mid-August).

We are slightly ahead of the curvie this year, but Athena really really really wanted to put up decorations, and who doesn't want to encouage their four year old to do a little decorating, especially when it requires the four year old to do a little bit of picking up as well? I'm not saying we got Athena to completely dust and mop the house. Just here and there.

Another reason I enjoy Halloween is that it's largely a guilt-free experience. It does have a religious basis, of course, but unlike Christmas or Hanukkah, very few people get worked up about the secularization of the holiday. I'm not particularly religious myself, but I do think the religious aspects of Christmas are underplayed to sell lots of stuff, and I do always feel mildly guilty (and annoyed) about that. I have no such compunctions about Halloween; I'm happy to have it be cutely morbid fun, and while it is astoundingly commercialized, it doesn't have that tacky feel that accompanies other wholly secularized holidays like, oh, I don't know, Valentine's Day. It's the right mixture of elements.

Also, let's not forget: Candy. Mmmmmm. I bet you dentists just love Halloween.

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• #3 Comment from clarity4today 
  9/30/03 4:54 PM | Permalink

  The existence of Halloween has not deterred our local stores from stocking Christmas stuff. It's already on the shelf. I believe as soon as Labor Day is over, they are bringing out the Christmas items. I suppose it's become a sign of fall to see the giant snowman in our Walmart...Donna
  http://journals.aol.com/clarity4today/MyUnvarnishedTruth/
• #2 Comment from ibroan 
  9/29/03 12:47 PM | Permalink

  er, to = take
• #1 Comment from ibroan 
  9/29/03 12:46 PM | Permalink

  You bet they do (both my parents are dentists). My Dad used to do his own lab work, dentures that sort of thing, so you can imagine the quality of prosthetic teeth used in costumes. As I recall his favorite costume to us kids out in was "Ghoul" as it was a) easy from a dressing-up point of view and b) let him construct some truly awful prosthetics---teeth going every which way, bluish-purple gums, green grunge everywhere. Good stuff.