Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

  The most amazing thing happened to me, on a Saturday afternoon.  The date was August 30th, just two days before Labor Day; the start of September, and, thankfully, the unofficial (but official, in my book) end of summer.  I wound up at a local toy shop, coming away with some tiny plushies. (Two of them Christmas themed, ironically, as I am working toward finding the magic in all things once more .) As I exited the store, something caught my eye beyond the fence leading to the next residential street.  A very tall pumpkin man seemed to be walking toward a house. My mind snapped back to when I was six years old, the very first time the Great Pumpkin came to visit me. How I'd heard him in the night, a candle rattling around in his head as he did his work, ensuring the happiest of Halloweens for the truest of believers. How special it felt to know I was one of his Chosen.  I'd always hoped to thank him one day. I quietly tiptoed around the fence, out into the narr...

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...