I Missed Halloween

I don't know how I did it, but I missed Halloween.  It's over, done with, gone.

My calendar reads October 30th today, so I thought I still had time.  But I guess I was wrong.

How did this happen?  I don't know.  The signs were there.  The decorations and the treats were displayed for me in August.  There were costumes in September.  Halloween was on the way.  But now!!!  Don't be late!!!!

I thought I still had time.  I was wrong.

It started yesterday when I decided I needed some non-food treats.  (http://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2015/10/what-color-is-your-pumpkin.html).  I was running some errands.  (Ok, I was out buying "mommy treats" aka a bottle of wine.  Mommy needs something to get her through the trick or treating!)  I thought I'd run by the local dollar store and pick up a container of spider rings or a pack of Halloween themed pencils.  A quick run in and out.  It should have been easy.

But I missed Halloween.  I walked in and it was clearly Christmas time.  (Not holiday time, Christmas time.  I've got nothing against Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings, but this store was clearly decked out in all the HoHo Christmas Galore.)  I searched the aisles.  I did find some sad Thanksgiving napkins and plates.  There were a few bags of candy lurking.  (And they were lurking.)

Hidden far away in the dark recesses of the store, were a very Halloween decorations.  They were beat up and worn.  I couldn't have missed Halloween, could I?

Today we went grocery shopping. Once again I was hoping to find some non-food treats.  My husband also insisted we needed to buy some more candy; anticipating lots of trick or treaters since the holiday, I thought, falls on a Saturday.  We also had a good candy coupon, so...

Low and behold at our local grocery store, Halloween had come and gone as well.  There were no non-food treats to be found.  (Although there were plenty of Holiday Barbies in the seasonal aisle.)  There was SOME Halloween candy to be found, but the pickings were slim.  So slim that he had to dig around to find the brand that the coupon was good for.  (My husband is a dogged shopper; he found the candy that was on sale AND he had a coupon for.)  The store was clearly gearing up for the next holiday. (And I'm not talking about Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving gets no love or respect.  Clearly Thanksgiving is not a marketable holiday.)  Forget pumpkin spice, chocolate peppermint is in.  (I do love both, but I'm partial to pumpkin spice until AFTER Thanksgiving, but maybe I've missed that holiday too?)

So I was down and out.  I thought I had clearly missed the holiday.  Would I have to be like the meanie that gave Charlie Brown a rock?

Thankfully, the answer is no.  On the third try, I did find a local store that STILL had holiday treats (including a limited amount of non-food items), decorations and even costumes available.  (And it wasn't a pop up Halloween store.)  There was no Christmas to be found there. (At least not on first glance; I found myself enthralled by the Halloween aisle and did not have the time to go searching the other aisles.)

We happily went to the checkout counter and paid for our purchases.  I even wished the cashier a Happy Halloween.

It took some searching, but I guess I didn't miss Halloween after all.  Now I just hope that the trick or treaters come soon or all those candy treats will be gone and my dentist will be berating me next week.