I love Halloween like I love candy corn, which I can eat all day, every day, all fall long.
I search Pinterest year-round for Halloween ideas; easy-to-make spooky snacks and creepy-crafty preschool projects fill my pin board. I usually begin brainstorming costume possibilities for our family in the summer. I start decorating our home within the first week of October, ideally on Oct. 1 — any earlier would be ridiculous, of course.
It’s all about making Halloween last as long as possible and fully embracing the holiday spirit, so to speak.
This enthusiasm (slight obsession?) comes with good reason. Halloween is the same day as my dad’s birthday. On top of that, it’s my parents’ wedding anniversary.
“That was my birthday present to your dad,” Mom once joked.
The holiday has always been a big deal for my family. As I grew up, it meant festive gatherings surrounded by loved ones, centered around the typical feast that accompanies Filipino celebrations. The added eeriness and mystery in the air this time of year made these parties extra exciting, almost magical.
Halloween stirs up such happy, warm memories from my younger years. I love the nostalgia. The frills and thrills that come with the holiday are just an added bonus.
As an adult, I approach All Hallows’ Eve with the same kind of giddy anticipation I felt as a child. Once pumpkin-everything season rolls around, I stock up on candy corn, borrow loads of scary-fun library books for my kids, mail out Halloween greeting cards and gear up for the inevitable school activities, including classroom parties and costume parades.
Let’s not forget about squeezing in all those Halloween television specials, from “Hocus Pocus” (one of my all-time faves) and the annual “Simpsons” episode “Treehouse of Horror” to “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and the Food Network’s latest shows for the season.
Just listing everything gives me pure orange-and-black bliss.
It delights me to see the same zeal among my three daughters, ages 9, 8 and 4. While they look forward to dressing up and visiting zombie-infested houses to collect bags of candy, they do understand there’s much more to the day.
“I love Halloween because it’s three occasions all in one, which makes it super fun,” my middle daughter told me.
Tomorrow we’ll celebrate the three occasions at my parents’ house with my sister and our families. We’ll start the night off trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, then follow up with a little pizza party.
We’ll likely have two cakes because that’s what we normally do — one for Dad’s 72nd birthday and another for my parents’ 45th anniversary. If we’re lucky there will be a third Halloween cake, as well. And lots of candy corn.
Wishing everyone a fun, safe and spooky Halloween!
“She Speaks” is a weekly column by women writers of the Honolulu StarAdvertiser. Reach Zenaida Serrano at zserrano@staradvertiser.com.
