Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

 There’s a certain energy that comes with the beginning of autumn for me.  Once the air starts getting cooler, pumpkins start appearing, neighbors start decorating, and the world starts smelling of pumpkin and apple, I feel myself bursting at the seams. Though I know it’s impractical, I am suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to everything at once. I want to go on spooky adventures, spend hours at a time outside, try on costumes, photograph every spooky piece of decor I own then go shop for more, drink all the pumpkin spice lattes, etc., all in the matter of a few seconds. It’s a feeling that I think most people would refer to as “spring fever”, but I’ve always gotten mine in autumn. For some, autumn is viewed as a season of death. But for me, it’s always what breathes new life into me, and I’m never more alive than I am during this time of year, particularly as it begins. I asked myself today, why the beginning of autumn sends me into more of a frenzy than the actual celebrat...

 As Halloween 2020 draws closer, I have seen more and more controversy around the internet about how, and even if, it should be celebrated during this strange, difficult year. Many popular events have been cancelled. Some towns and even full states are trying to outlaw trick-or-treating. And the response has, understandably, been mixed. This is a very hard subject for me to have an unbiased opinion on. My entire life is dedicated to celebrating Halloween, and while it’s true that there is always the option of staying home and watching a movie, that doesn’t exactly count as a real celebration of my favorite holiday in my eyes. Activities that involve staying home, are the things I do throughout the year to tide myself over until the actual time comes. A Halloween night spent marathoning movies like Hocus Pocus and Trick ‘r Treat, while cozy and fun, would be extremely unfulfilling to me. With that said, I do understand being hesitant to celebrate traditionally this year. How exactly...

 It doesn’t matter how many artificial (or, as I like to call them, “immortal”)  pumpkins one possesses, there is always something truly magical about the appearance of the first real pumpkins of the season. I tend to react to pumpkins in that cliche way that stereotypical women in the media might react to shoes. I spot them from afar, run to them like a moth to a flame, and discover, sometimes immediately and sometimes after much scrutiny, the one that speaks to me the most. I just know the pumpkin I have to have when I see it.  This year, my first real pumpkin sighting was actually at work, and naturally, I picked one out immediately and had it held in the back room for me until I was ready to leave with it. When I was younger, I normally waited until October or close to it to adopt a real pumpkin. My biggest concern, or rather, my parents’ biggest concern since they were the ones spending the money, was that it wouldn’t last until Halloween. But in my adult life, I fig...

 Today is my birthday. I have never considered myself a “summer baby”, despite the fact that the Gregorian date of September 8th isn’t quite autumn. To me, September means fall, no matter what society or the temperature have to say about it.  My Halloween soul has always felt fortunate that my birthday falls when it does. Despite the fact that, in childhood, my birthday also meant the start of the school year, my compensation for that was the fact that it also meant the start of what’s now referred to as “spooky season”. When I was younger, I obviously wasn’t able to stalk the stores for Halloween decor in the same way that I do now. I have no recollection of ever really seeing Halloween decor on shelves before September until I was almost fourteen. So, my birthday truly felt like the start of Halloween season, as if the entire world was giving me a two-month long gift.  As money started coming in the mail from extended family, it gave me comfort to know that the next tim...

Halloween does end the most abruptly of the holidays. It’s gotten worse as time has gone on. Stranger. One night, we all are happy trick-or-treaters, making mischief in the moonlight, but then the next day, for some, it’s like it never even happened. The atmosphere starts to be taken over by what ‘should’ be everyone’s favorite holiday, according to society.  But what do they know? Those of us who choose to hold onto the Halloween spirit have probably all wondered. Where do Halloween memories come from? And, perhaps more importantly, where do they go? There is an ancient pumpkin man. Not many have seen him. In fact, if you have seen him, you may have thought he was just a headstone in a cemetery, silently watching over his deceased. And that’s not entirely wrong. He is the Gatekeeper. Guardian and spirit of every Halloween memory that exists. Like a vessel, he holds the weight of thousands of Halloweens inside him; Halloween past is still very much alive within him. He will share h...

 Everyone has moments in their life when they feel like giving up. That feeling of “This is never going to happen, so why keep trying?” Sometimes it relates to a thing that would be trivial to anyone else, sometimes it’s about something more life-altering. But, we’ve all been there. I have moments of discouragement with this blog. Times I’ve told myself, “No one cares”, or “No one will read this”, etc., but I continue on, for the joy of it. And sometimes, something amazing happens. If you haven’t read my previous post,  Have You Seen This Pumpkin? , I would strongly suggest doing so before continuing on with this story. The short version is, I saw a pumpkin in someone’s window when I was twelve years old, and have spent the last twenty-one years trying to find it for myself.  When I published that post, I wasn’t expecting much of a response. I was really just hoping to hear someone say, “Yes, my family had this pumpkin when I was a kid!” Or “I once saw this in a neighbor’...