Halfoween Brings Solace To Spring//October 212th, 2022

I have never been a fan of the spring and summer months. My interest in warm weather and sunny days has waned over the course of time to the point where it is now virtually non-existant.

And yet, somehow, I feel we are, on some level, entering the “better half” of the year.

Last year, I spoke about how I started calculating the halfway point to Halloween as a teenager and eventually came to know the term “Halfoween”, thanks to randomly seeing an ad for the popular TV series (which I think was also recently rebooted), iCarly. For years I tried to find ways to celebrate this milestone day, and though I was mostly alone in it for awhile, I always tried to make it feel special. As time has gone on, I’ve found ways to celebrate Halloween in some capacity literally every day of the year, but there is still is something incredibly special about Halfoween itself.

The way the Halloween community has come together to embrace this day truly astounds me. I grew up thinking that it was “weird” for my favorite holiday to be Halloween. It wasn’t really a thing with anyone else that I knew. It was a fun night that came and went for other kids my age, a night that everyone seemed ready to sweep under the rug the second it was over. I didn’t know anyone save for my one aunt that had ever said Halloween was their favorite holiday, and I certainly didn’t know anyone who felt anywhere near what I felt for Halloween. That longing, that desperate wish that it could last all year long…I always thought I was alone in that.

It wasn’t until probably about 2018, after going through some major life changes, and slowly realizing that photographing my Halloween collection and focusing on Halloween all year round, that I found myself suddenly in a whole community of people that seemed to feel the same, or at least very, very similar, about Halloween, through Instagram. Suddenly, year-round countdowns to Halloween were normal, and I always had someone to talk to about Halloween-y things. I don’t know that I’ve ever been grateful for anything in the same way that I am for finding Instagram’s Halloween community and finally feeling like I belong, like I have a place, and maybe that I even make someone’s day a little better sometimes by sharing a picture or story relating to Halloween. There is no other group of people I’d rather be a part of. It’s probably saved my life numerous times.

It will always amaze me, too, how Halfoween has caught on. All the years I spent feeling alone in celebrating it, I never imagined that I would have a group of friends celebrating it, too, or that spooky-themed businesses would be having sales dedicated to this day, or even the actual village of Sleepy Hollow would be posting about it! It’s magical to me, to see what the love of Halloween can really do!

And so, as we head into my least favorite time of year, with its bright sun and high temperatures and allergies and long days, my solace is this turning point. The world starts to shift now, if you know how to look for it. Six months since Halloween, and six months until the next. Everything slowly starts to wake up now, if it hasn’t been awake all this time.

It is coming.

Some of us feel its presence every day, but Halfoween is always one of the days when it feels closest. Enjoy it, embrace it, and, as always…

…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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