Justifying My Second Favorite Holiday//October 135th, 2023

If you've known me long enough, you know that Valentine's Day is, and pretty much always has been, my second-favorite holiday.

People who don't know me as well, though, are always shocked to find this out...and basically just shocked that there is someone in the world who loves and looks forward to Valentine's Day, in general.

I've honestly never understood the negativity. I mean, I suppose I can see it if you have some sort of awful memory tied to the day, or something along those lines, but to loathe the day just because it exists? It's never really made sense to me.

I guess the problem is that most people see it is a holiday only for people in romantic relationships, but my memories of Valentine's Day extend far beyond the relationships I've been in.

The fact that so many people seem to perceive Valentine's Day as being so exclusive, is honestly bizarre to me.

Maybe it's because I grew up a shy, unpopular kid, but to me, growing up, Valentine's Day was one day of the year that was about inclusivity. Maybe it was a little silly, but on Valentine's Day, your classmates, more or less, had to include you, and treat you like part of the gang for a day. Everyone got those punny little cards, and it just generally felt like a day to celebrate whatever or whoever you love, be it in a romantic way, a friendship, a pet, even a hobby or interest. And the decorations were always so cute. I think another big thing that made me love Valentine's Day as a child was that it seemed like a happy, colorful break from the dismal weeks of winter that set in once Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's were over. You go from having so many exciting holidays in a row, to just nothing. Valentine's Day, back then, felt like somebody shining a light into a dark room. There actually wasan episode of the kids' the series Arthur that comes to the same conclusion.

I don't know why my interest in Valentine's Day didn't die off as I got older, but it seemed to only get stronger. And, as I've talked about every other year since I've had this blog (previous years' entries can be found under the tags for "Valentine's Day" or "Valloween") Valentine's is actually a great time to be a spooky person. Halloween and Valentine's Day have long seemed to go hand in hand, with romantic notions seen on vintage Halloween cards, and spooky characters and sentiments portrayed on vintage valentines.

It's almost hard to tell which card is supposed to be for which holiday, isn't it?

And of course, there were plenty of vintage valentines that were creepy without intending to be. Possibly creepier than any Halloween card of the same time!

This image looks straight out of a horror film. Like, if I'd seen this as a child, the nightmares would be endless.

Not fully sure what's going on here but I feel like it's cursed. Is she meant to be dressed like a sea monster?

I can not and will not be convinced that these images don't go together, and the girl isn't in the weird butcher kid's freezer. Also, why is did they have to go so far as to depict the dead goose's floppy, broken neck? They could've just made it a rump roast, or something.

Spooky was always a part of Valentine's Day, probably more than we even realize, and nowadays, I think Valentine's-time is when you're actually most likely to see Halloween imagery during the layman's "off-season." For the past couple of years, Walmart has hopped on board in selling more Nightmare Before Christmas themed stuff during this time, and this year they even added some horror character mugs to the mix with the inclusion of Chucky and Tiffany of Child's Play fame. Spooky artists also seem more likely to bring back the pumpkins and ghosts when Valloween is near. For all those memes that say "let's replace Valentine's Day with a second Halloween", it looks like we may already be there. And history seems to show we have been, for a long time.

No matter who or what it is that you love, or whatever it is that makes you happy, that, to me is what Valentine's Day is meant to celebrate. And, if you'd like it to be, it's certainly a good time to also celebrate all things spooky once again.

After all, what greater love is there, than the love of Halloween?

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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