Birthoween//October 344th, 2020

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 time I saw a Halloween decoration in a store, perhaps I could buy it. Even if I was out shopping, with my mother or grandfather or an aunt, and had no money of my own, I knew I could use my birthday as a bargaining chip to purchase something spooky. Sometimes I wonder if my childhood collection would’ve been quite as big if it hadn’t been for the way my birthday falls. Not to say that I never spent my birthday money on, or received a gift that was, something “normal”, but having such a small window of opportunity to shop for it, most of my extra money always went toward Halloween.

When I was very young, the colors I associated with my birthday were pink and blue. This was most likely due to pink and blue kitten and puppy wrapping paper at the first birthday party I have a real memory of. (We actually hung a piece of it on the refrigerator and I, who was turning four, I believe, held up the old house phone in the kitchen to the fridge, thinking my aunt could see it through the phone!) This has remained, to a degree, through my adult years, but as I’ve gotten older, when I think of my birthday, after that initial memory of pink and blue and the smell of candles being blown out, I see shades of autumn, as if I’m standing at the edge of my favorite time of year.

I don’t really remember what I used to wish for on my birthday candles. Most likely some sort of toy or to meet a favorite celebrity or something. (I do have one distinct memory of wishing for a stuffed animal of the dog, Nuzzle, from the old children’s TV series The Puzzle Place, and not getting it until a few years ago when one of my best friends, with whom the story had become a running joke, sent me one dressed in a pumpkin costume!) But I realize now that there is no greater wish fulfillment than the magic that comes every year on the heels of my day of birth, the beginning of the season that makes my soul shine brighter than the candles on any cake ever could.

Stay spooky, my friends.

The Long Way Back//October 32nd, 2023

Every year I talk about November 1st...it's such a confusing day. It makes me feel so many emotions all at once. Mournful, depressed, angry...It's like a slap in the face shoving us into a new month, forcing us to forget what came just hours before. Last year, I did have somewhat of an epiphany regarding the month of November as a whole, and while I do my best to keep my own past words in mind, that doesn't make today any easier. Or easy to explain, for that matter. I suppose I should speak from my heart. Today I feel detached from reality, as if I don't really exist. Like there is no longer a place in the world for me. Just yesterday everything I loved made sense, and was loved and revered by everyone else as well. I felt like I fit. But now, today, I see those same things being quickly shoved away. Less than twenty-four hours after trick-or-treating time began, it's all being swept under the rug. The season culminated and the world is no longer a place I recog

The Spooky Community Has No Entrance Fee//October 288th, 2023

Something I’ve been seeing a lot this year around the Halloween community, possibly more than any other year, has been talk of consumerism, how much money spent on Halloween is too much, whether collecting is really that important or if it’s somehow required to truly be a part of the community, etc. I’m in no way trying to copy anyone else who’s already spoken on this subject, but I thought I would chime in and share my thoughts, as it is something I definitely think about. Now, I’ve always been relatively fortunate when it comes to how much money I have to spend on Halloween goodies. As a child, I often received money for my birthday, September 8th, at the height of the shopping season, at least as I knew it back then. No, it wasn’t enough to collect the way I do now, but it was enough to make me happy, and you also could get a lot more for a lot less back then. I didn’t necessarily stop to think about my “hauls”, but I knew even at a young age that there was nothing I’d rather be sp

Here’s Where The Story Ends//October 337th, 2020

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’s window while

Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

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