Halloween is a great holiday when you are a kid. Costumes. Candy. Staying up late. Parties. And the promise of more holidays coming soon.

As an adult, not so much. I went to a costume party one time with disastrous results. Since then I’ve stuck with my friends who have kids instead. It gives me a great excuse to wear a costume and to be out for a bit of the evening.

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With COVID-19, this year (as with all the things), was different.

It was absolutely perfect weather on Halloween in Portland, Oregon. Crisp and sunny. The holiday fell on a Saturday so there was not a concern about getting up early the next morning. And Fall Back was the next day so even if the night had run late, a bonus hour of sleep was waiting to help in recovery.

Looking outside my window, I wished for a downpour just to make missing trick-or-treating a bit easier.

Since the holiday could not be what I would have liked, I decided to just skip ahead toward Christmas, and forced Boyfriend to come with me. With Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on DVD, we curled up on the couch for the evening. After all that this year has been, I see absolutely no reason not to lean into the holidays in whatever way brings joy.

Next movie night: Santa Claus: The Movie.

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“We are the spark, that will light the fire that’ll burn the First Order down” (Poe Dameron, Star Wars: The Last Jedi). – #52sparks is my year-long writing series for 2020, based on an art prompt challenge. The spark that lights a fire to toast a marshmallow or to ravage a forest begins in the space of an inch. This series is to explore what hundreds of inches and words can do.