Fall is in the air. Unfortunately, so are other things...
There are, sadly, a lot of kids missing out on their fall and Halloween traditions this year (yes, and their parents, too 'cause parents love Halloween). I've seen lots of posts from friends about how they're modifying fall traditions for their kids and grandkids. Some are trying to figure out social-distanced trick-or-treating, others are swapping private hayrides for group excursions.
Jason and I briefly considered taking Elianna to a pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin... but then I saw that the CDC was calling that a moderate risk activity, even outside with masks required. Given that we live in an area where there has been a lot of push-back against masks, we decided not to bother.
I was taking Elianna for a walk in the stroller a few days ago - it was the first time we'd been out and about since a lot of people had put up Halloween decorations. I came to the end of our street and saw that the hedge out in front of one house was decked out with about a dozen friendly scarecrows. I thought to myself how much fun she's going to have once she's old enough to go to fall festivals, fondly recalling the school festivals my sister and I went to at our elementary school: mazes, pony rides, and haunted houses with spaghetti brains you could touch.
And I know she's too young this year. I know she won't know what she's missing out on, and wouldn't remember trick-or-treating or picking out a pumpkin anyway. I take comfort in that. But I miss it. And I know how many of my friends and/or their kids are, too. But I think the kids will be OK. I think the kids will still find ways to see the magic.
I talk about how kids can find the magic this time of year so easily in a re-post from last year ( https://www.iveyink.com/blog/2019/10/19/memories-and-magic ), but here's that specific section:
“The things I remember most about Halloween as a kid, was the feeling that anything could happen. Those chilly, cloudy nights out walking through the dark neighborhood, I would look up at the sky and see faint ghosts in swirling patterns. Most other nights I knew that wasn't a ghost, but rather a search light from a concert or a car lot. But on Halloween, it was a ghost. On Halloween, that empty house down the street might really be haunted. On Halloween that neighbor that likes to dress up like a scarecrow and sit on the front porch to startle trick-or-treaters might actually be an evil scarecrow come to life that would come get you.
Certain nights hold magic. Halloween is one of them. Christmas is another. On Christmas as a kid, that flashing red light in the sky isn't a plane - it's Rudolph. The fireplace making a thump isn't the flue cooling off and contracting - it's Santa. And I really believed for many years that if I sprinkled glitter on the Christmas tree and the nutcracker collection that one of these days they would magically transform and take me to a magical land... I believed this probably 'til I was way older than I should have.
But my point is, there is something very magical about Fall. (Yes, I know Christmas Day itself is about 4 days into Winter, but most of that buildup, most of that magical transformation is in Fall.) And there is something amazing about kids; they believe. They want to believe. They love to believe. And that is awesome.”
I know a lot of us are disappointed, and a lot of us are concerned our kids will be, too. But don't worry about the kids - they'll still believe in the magic.