Paper ghosts

I will not be buying Halloween decorations anymore. I used to festoon the first floor of my house with hanging witches and ghosts and spider webs, adding more every year to the collection I keep in the holiday decoration room in my basement. But my kids are teenagers; they don’t care about black cats and pumpkin candles. Besides, my plan is to be in a smaller house by this time next year, and it probably won’t have a room just for holiday decorations.

It might not even have a room for my son, but that’s next year’s problem.

I did put two scarecrows on my front porch yesterday.

My neighbor Annie noticed them and pointed out that I really shouldn’t be spending money on Halloween decorations right now. (I KNOW, ANNIE.) But the scarecrows aren’t new; I found them in my decoration room. They seem like new because I haven’t used them for years — they were hidden in a corner that’s very dark because I can’t figure out how to change the light bulb. (That sounds like a joke but it’s not.)

Unfortunately, my dog is terrified of the scarecrows. I discovered this after I vacated the house so a realtor could show it, and returned an hour later to find holes dug in the pots and dirt all over the stairs, which the dog had apparently tried to spray at the scarecrows to make them go away.

(I shouldn’t be surprised that Dylan is afraid of scarecrows. He is also afraid of cardboard boxes and his food bowl.)

It makes me sad that my children aren’t wide-eyed with excitement about Halloween anymore. I miss tailing the squealing, happy packs of kids as they raced from house to house trick-or-treating.

Now I just sit home Halloween night, hoping my son can outrun the police.

But I have such memories: the hay rides and little girls giggling in Disney princess gowns and pillowcases full of candy. I don’t need to string up a line of pumpkin lights in the family room to bring it all rushing back.

It was wondrous, wasn’t it?

No, I don’t need paper ghosts swinging from my trees Halloween night, much less a room to store them in.

They’ll always be with me anyway.

Bye.