Thoughts From The In-Between//October 91st, 2024

Sometimes I truly feel like this is the hardest point on the road back to Halloween.

I spend November mourning, and soaking up what is left of autumn. The remnants of Halloween still linger, though not as much as I wish that they would.

December brings the inevitable start of Christmas, despite that fact that many have been locked in since the second the clock struck midnight on November 1st. It becomes my battle, in a way, to keep Halloween alive when everyone is so distracted. To be a voice for those of us who, maybe, don't find Christmas time quite as merry. I am a safe space, not only for myself, but to the others that need Halloween as much as I do.

It's hard not to get distracted. As December descends into its final week before the supposed "big day", I get lost in nostalgia. I don't, necessarily, want to fall down the Christmas rabbit hole, the way Jack Skellington did, but I think about it. And the thought, the memory, becomes all-consuming for a few days, and then it comes. And it goes.

And then, nothing.

The world goes almost silent, it seems, when Christmas is over. For me, it feels like this huge hurdle to get over. And then it passes, and I realize, it's not actually the end of anything. Though thoughts now move away from Christmas, maybe back toward Halloween for those that took a little break from it, we're not as close as we feel like we should be.

Everything has come to a standstill.

I look around, at the end of December, and it's an almost hopeless feeling. Autumn has been over for about a week now, or earlier than that, if you believe the people who think Christmas starts on November 1st, but somehow, now, there's a finality to it.

Christmas has passed, but it's just one hurdle. Suddenly the road stretches out in front of me. All of winter left to go, and it's only just gotten started. All of spring. All of summer. Summer...the very thought makes me cringe, even though it's a strangely hopeful time, when things feel so close and yet so far.

I walk past the lake, and see one of the cornstalks that delighted me in October still standing. Against a winter fog, it is a very strange dreamscape, almost as if I'm seeing the ghost of a loved one wave at me from just beyond my reach.

Everything was so alive, just a short time ago. Yet now it feels like years have passed, and will have to pass again, before it comes back around.

I walk past still-decorated houses, and somehow the enthusiasm for Christmas seems less than Halloween. One house has Jack Skellington and the Abominable Snowman out front; some of the spookiest characters I can think of relating to Christmas. Is this their way of holding on? Of giving in, without giving in?

Is wanting to live in a world of eternal Halloween really that strange? Or rare?

I smile at the pumpkins, still alive, though maybe starting to rot, among lights and snow piles. My war buddies, they seem like. How have we made it this far?

I envy them, almost. They will sink into the earth before too long, leaving seeds to raise new pumpkins before next autumn. But I must remain, the eternal pumpkin not quite cut out for this world, and try to fit in.

Soon, at least, a new year will begin. No more "next Halloween", but "this Halloween". We'll finally be out of the 300s on the countdown...yet somehow it feels further than ever.

Winter is better than summer. But sometimes I long for the latter, not for what it feels like, but for the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't find darkness depressing. Quite the opposite, actually.

But I will always search for the beacon that leads me back to Halloween.

Stay spooky, my friends.

I'm Not So Sure About This Social Media Thing//October 94th, 2026

I started this blog six years ago on New Year's Day. I had been through some major life changes in 2018/2019, and really found myself along the way. I felt as though I really had cemented a place for myself within the Halloween community on social media, and often, when I would caption my posts on Instagram with snippets of memories, or a specific feeling that maybe not many others could understand, I would get comments and messages from new friends and followers, complimenting the way I wrote, sometimes even asking for more, and so, the idea to start a blog again was born, and, silly as it may sound, I am very proud that I've managed to stick with it as long as I have. Long work hours, personal problems, bouts of anxiety and depression....none of that has ever fully stopped me from coming back and doing what I love. But, lately, I have been feeling a little off about social media in general, and that's something I really would like to talk about, as I feel it taking a to...

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’...

Tales From A Walk: April 5th, 2026; AKA Easterween/Creepster/Zombie Jesus Day, Etc.

Someone asked me once When do you stop mourning the previous Halloween and start looking forward to the next one? That's always been a hard question for me to answer, as I am always looking back or looking ahead, depending on the situation. I often see what was, and what will be again, simultaneously. But today, I went for a walk. Probably my first full walk since Christmas time. That last walk, the remnants were still there. Though it was a different holiday entirely, I still met some rotting pumpkins, and some dead leaves clinging to their brittle branches. Then two back to back winter storms came in February, burying us in two feet of snow both times. I don't know that I've ever felt more like I was in alternate reality, or farther away from Halloween. Today was different, though. When Easter comes, you hear all this talk of spring, and new beginnings, and that sort of thing. And I guess it never really hit me how that can apply to Halloween as well. Wal...

Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

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