Halloween Spirit

Written by Michelle Davenport

Every year I look forward to Halloween.  It's my favorite time of year.  I love the kids dressing up, the candy, the crispness in the air and the scares!

I will start watching any scary movie I can get my hands on starting the first of October.  I love them all!  Well I'm not as fond of the gory ones, but I will watch them (through my fingers).



Many years ago one of my buddies and I started up a tradition of watching cheesy horror movies and eating cheap pizza while carving our pumpkins.  Both of our husbands were out so it was a great bonding experience.  The tradition morphed when my hubby got home.  We would start carving our pumpkins when 'It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' would air.  We both love Peanuts so it made sense.

After a while we decided to watch it on DVD, because sometimes it was aired early in the month and that could lead to some pumpkin deaths.  Nothing worse than a wilted jack-o-lantern.

But it's the same every year.  We watch the movie while carving pumpkins and eat pizza.   And we don't always carve them, some years we paint.  It depends on our feeling each year.

I love our tradition.

Even better?

Every year we sit out in our driveway with our next door neighbor to hand out candy.  We play Halloween themed music, sit by our fire pit and drink a Halloween concoction of my own making.  We've done it for years and every year is better.  It's a great time to get to catch up with our neighbor and just enjoy the time together.  Plus we're on a corner lot so we get to see a lot of the goings on.

Last year we did it up even bigger.  We invited friends and grilled hamburgers.  This was to be our last Halloween in Virginia and we wanted it memorable.   So we had friends bring candy and a favorite dish or drink to share.  

Trick or treaters were delighted when then reached our house because everyone had brought candy, so we were handing it out by the handful.

All in all it was a memorable Halloween.

And here's to even more at our new location!

About the author: Michelle Davenport is the author of “Second Chances at East Beach” in By the Bay: East Beach Stories.  Her story “Tag!  You’re Dead” will be in Volume II, to be published in 2017.  For more information on Michelle, please visit her website.