Beat it, pumpkin.

I don't want to belabor this Halloween autopsy, but:

1) I was completely bollixed up with work yesterday and had little time to think of a new blog topic; 

2) It seems appropriate to pick over the ghastly carcass of Halloween; and

3) I was de-decorating as I went around the house, making room for Pilgrim-related décor. 

It's this last bit that did get me thinking, for whatever amount of thinking I was able to do.

We don't usually let Halloween stick around, do we? The hearts might hang around until March; shamrocks might stay out until April; and Christmas stuff might laze about for months. Halloween? As soon as its over we look around, embarrassed, like we've awakened from a drunken affair of convenience and are all ashamed but trying to be polite, then we put it behind us as fast as possible and move on.

Of course, Halloween has the bad luck to be on the last day on the month, and month's end usually brings a desire for a change. The shamrock may not look silly on March 24, but the ghost hanging around on November 6 looks lost. You really feel the need to get rid of that stuff on November 1 in case any time-displaced costumers show up looking for candy. Down come the ghosts! Down come the skeletons! Hurry! Hurry!

I think that would be the case even if Halloween were not up against the giant Thanks-CHRISTMAS behemoth that starts on November 1, Frankly, I'm glad Halloween does its bit just to keep Christmas at bay a little. You know I love Christmas, but if the retailers were 100% cranked for it after Labor Day, I'd be exhausted by December 1. As it is, Christmas is such a huge deal that it has a 12-day hangover attached.

Maybe the theme of Halloween also makes us want to give it the hook before the applause has faded. Who but the most morbid of us wants to wallow in spooky graveyard stuff all the time? It's a pretty small population compared to those who like cheer and joy. It's funny that in Halloween films, the festivities go through Halloween night; except in places like Rutland, Vermont, which has a parade for the day, it's all over by ten p.m. -- earlier if you have a town curfew as we do. Most of the time it's a school night, a work night, for some even a church night; most of us can't and won't go deep into the wee hours with pumpkin-scented foofaraw. 

So for a guy who didn't have much to say today, I said a lot. This may be my last mention of Halloween for the year, for which most will be grateful. Happy Thanksgiving!