3 posts tagged “halloween”
Here are belated pictures from this year’s Monster Mash (view last year’s here)! As you can see, everybody had to get his/her picture taken with Scut, my giant hairy spider. Since it’s December and I can’t remember half of what the costumes were supposed to be, I’ll let you GUESS what they were. And hopefully someone will be kind enough to tell you if you’re right.
(I have also updated some old posts with visual aids:
In which my weight-lifting finally pays off
Ever since I was little, I have loved Halloween. But unlike most of my peers, this affection was not based on having the opportunity to dress up, stay out late and eat lots of junk food (although I agree that part kicked ass). I was more in love with the abstract side of Halloween; the way it embraced the creepy and the crawly and encouraged me to do the same.
As I got older, my fascination with the holiday grew. I no longer went trick-or-treating, but instead spent my allowance on deliciously chilling Halloween props. In place of decorating myself, I began decorating our family home. For most of my high school and college years, I would transform my parent’s garage into a one-night haunted house for the neighborhood kids. It took me hours to set-up and hours to take down, but I loved every minute I spent creating those nightmarish illusions.
Eventually of course, I moved out, taking my boxes of Halloween fun with me. While I no longer have a huge set on which to stage my black-and-orange drama, I’ve created opportunities every year to use my freaky props (and found excuses to purchase new ones). This year, I’ve decorated our apartment, my work cube and (this coming weekend) the building’s party room for the annual Shane/Tisha Monster Mash. Even after all this time, I continue to have ungodly amounts of fun doing it.
But I still can’t pinpoint exactly what it is about Halloween that I adore. There is just something special about 10/31. How it joyfully rolls around in the sorts of things the other holidays run screaming from. How its purpose is not as narrowly-defined as the rest. How it invites an introvert like me to spend my evening NOT jetting around to noisy, crowded family tables, but curled up at home with the lights down low, enjoying a book of scary stories with an enormous hairy spider, a handful of squishy mice, and perhaps a glowing skull or two.
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Presenting...
Halloween 2006!
Thanks to everyone who participated in our party!
(And to those who patiently waited for us to develop this roll of film.)
