Halloween Blues
I love Halloween. It's my favorite holiday. It's the time of year that I want to borrow a little kid to take trick-or-treating 'cause there's nothing cuter in the world than little kids (babies, crawlers, toddlers, you name it) in costumes. I'm a sucker for the little furry animal or bug costumes that you can buy. A fat cheeked baby in a pumpkin costume makes me melt much the same way a kitten does. And for those who know me, you know that's saying something!
In Glendale we always had a steady stream of trick or treaters for a good two hours, trickling off around 8:00pm. Sure, there were the inevitable teens sans costume except for that damn "SCREAM" mask, holding out pillowcases for free candy (lazy ass candy mongers). But for the most part lots of little kids, whole families from the butterfly baby in the stroller to pirates, fairies, vampires, ghosts, princesses, super heroes...
Sigh.
This year in San Francisco we had three groups of trick or treaters. Teens without costumes except for one lonely ghost. There was nothing on TV worth watching (Sci Fi Channel, you suck! Your programmers are bastard people and I hate your ass faces!) , no time to get to the video store, so we watched a program on zombies that we'd taped off the History Channel, then decided to watch a Buffy episode. Dave was already beered and peppermint shchnapped up from his work Halloween party, so one glass of wine made him crash and burn before we'd even made it through half the episode. I was too restless to sleep, too fractious to focus on a book, and wondering where all the fun had gone from my beloved Halloween. I'm trying not to compare this year to Halloweens past, nostalgia sweeping over me in a depressing series of waves that just seem to keep coming.
This shit just doesn't seem to get any easier.
In Glendale we always had a steady stream of trick or treaters for a good two hours, trickling off around 8:00pm. Sure, there were the inevitable teens sans costume except for that damn "SCREAM" mask, holding out pillowcases for free candy (lazy ass candy mongers). But for the most part lots of little kids, whole families from the butterfly baby in the stroller to pirates, fairies, vampires, ghosts, princesses, super heroes...
Sigh.
This year in San Francisco we had three groups of trick or treaters. Teens without costumes except for one lonely ghost. There was nothing on TV worth watching (Sci Fi Channel, you suck! Your programmers are bastard people and I hate your ass faces!) , no time to get to the video store, so we watched a program on zombies that we'd taped off the History Channel, then decided to watch a Buffy episode. Dave was already beered and peppermint shchnapped up from his work Halloween party, so one glass of wine made him crash and burn before we'd even made it through half the episode. I was too restless to sleep, too fractious to focus on a book, and wondering where all the fun had gone from my beloved Halloween. I'm trying not to compare this year to Halloweens past, nostalgia sweeping over me in a depressing series of waves that just seem to keep coming.
This shit just doesn't seem to get any easier.
posted by Dana Fredsti @ 9:39 AM
13 Comments:
At 10:29 AM,
Anonymous said…
Sorry you missed the Vincent Price marathon on TCM last night.
Not zombie movies--but good for Halloween viewing just the same. Suspenseful and psychologial horror.
We only had about half as many little goblins as normal.
At 10:33 AM,
Abyss of Silence said…
I'm sorry darlin'.
But thank you for "(Sci Fi Channel, you suck! Your programmers are bastard people and I hate your ass faces!)". Hee hee! You got me again with that one!
We had 4 or 5 groups of trick-or-treaters. Lewer than last year but more than the year before. For a person who dislikes kids in general, I too enjoy handing out candy to the little tykes. I think we would have had many more if we didn't live up such a frickin steep hill. But if the kiddies make it up this far we feel they deserve a treat.
I'm sorry you live in a barren trick-or-treat region. One thing to remember about nostalgia though, it's only about the good.
There will be trick-or-treaters again, we'll figure out something different for next year.
At 10:42 AM,
Dana Fredsti said…
Vincent Price marathon? D'oh! Totally missed that scanning through the shows...that would have been something.
They ARE bastard people! Really! And yeah, any kid hearty enough to make it up that hill deserves his/her mini-snickers or whatever you were handing out! and so true about nostalgia...but all the halloweens WERE good...
At 4:54 PM,
Other Lisa said…
Maybe you just need to plan next year's Halloween in advance. Not everybody has the same traditions or attachments to certain holidays. Sometimes you need to put a little work into creating new traditions.
And Halloween is but one day a year. After visiting you in SF and seeing your new lifestyle - great home/relationship, great job, great city - well, I was certainly impressed. I mean, the wine bars!
At 5:20 PM,
Anonymous said…
As someone who, for a few years, got the job of handing out the candy in Glendale- It always seemed to me that regardless of whether or not you were actually going to pass out candy- you were going to get "Trick or Treaters." So it was probably just as well to go with the flow and hand it over. And yes the costumes on the toddlers were often cute.
It was the closest I've come to celebrating that Holiday before or since. Now I try and stay home Halloween night- and plan my driving routes so that they don't involve going beneath bridges because the "egging cars" tradition is still alive and well in rural bumpus.
Sorry to hear that it was less than fun. Maybe next year you should host a party!
At 8:51 AM,
Dana Fredsti said…
OL, not even wine bars can make up for lack of little trick or treaters...Seriously, my expectations were very low - I didn't really even have any other than the usual relax at home and watch horror movies, but the way things petered out and no little pumpkins or furry animal costumes...wah! And the only thing one can do when the depression waves hit is ride 'em out - no amount of logic really helps. Too bad, 'cause I'd rather not get 'em.
Mr. Fab, how about Zombie Elvis? That'd be cool!
Kempis (how many screen names do you have, D?), they really still egg cars? Jeez louise... I'd be more apt to host a party if the holiday fell on a weekend night instead of a school night...but next year we'll do something a little more special since it's obvious trick or treating is a lost art in our neighborhood.
At 9:14 AM,
Other Lisa said…
Also - if you really miss the kiddies - I'm sure there are some events for kids you could attend and help out at.
At 10:26 AM,
Dana Fredsti said…
I don't want to help out the kiddies, just hand out candy to 'em!
At 1:38 PM,
Anonymous said…
Zhadi wrote: Kempis (how many screen names do you have,..)
Still trying to decide on one I like. And yep they still egg cars although they haven't gotten me since '91 I think. But I've had friends report similar occurances in recent years past. And if it's a really cold night it sucks double because the egg freezes on the car and by the time it thaws out enough to get it off the paint's usually damaged (good thing I drive a beater though).
As for the lack of Kiddies and SF.. I was remembering an article I read on the subject about how San Fran - with it's high cost of living and plethora of young professionals was not a kid (or breeder) friendly city. And most people end up moving out (of SF) when they start a family. So I wouldn't expect to see many any time soon.
At 9:00 AM,
Dana Fredsti said…
I'm gonna rent a few!
At 10:05 PM,
Malnurtured Snay said…
I like putting razors in the candy to distribute to children.
JOKE.
At 9:28 AM,
Dana Fredsti said…
Oh, MS, shame on you...I remember when that whole scare took a year away from trick or treating - we ended up going to Vegas with our parents for something instead. i was SO not happy.
At 3:40 PM,
Kayla said…
Hi Zhadi,
Are the blues getting better yet?
That's a bummer, maybe there's hope it will be more fun next year?
I'm reaching...
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