7 Reasons to Love Halloween

I’m not going to say that Halloween is the best holiday–but here at Lumos Studio, Wendy and I are very, very fond of it. In light of this fact, here are 7 reasons that you should love it, too.

1) You learn new things about your friends

On Halloween, people often show a side of themselves that they otherwise wouldn’t. Maybe it’s their inner bloodthirsty cannibal, or maybe it’s that they still have Soundgarden t-shirts and flannels that they’ve been stashing since the 90’s. Whatever, man, it’s Halloween, let your freak flag fly.

This Halloween I learned that my wife looks fantastic in green…like, a lot of green.

Eat your heart out, Chris Pratt.

I also learned that if you wear a Star Lord costume, the most impressive part to men of a certain age will be that you have an actual, functioning Walkman.

2) It’s crafty

Let’s start with the most obvious. At Halloween, it’s not only accepted, but expected that you’ll take a fruit, cut a hole in it, scoop out its guts (parts of which you may or may not toast and eat), then carve its flesh into the likeness of a person, place, or thing, then set a fire in it, and place it in front of your house.

We bucked tradition this year by running out of time for all that carving stuff, and instead Wendy drew a mural on our kitchen wall. (What, you didn’t do that?)

The light switch symbolizes man’s dual nature, ever flipping between light and darkness…

3. Adorable kids

On Halloween super-cute kids just show up on your doorstep without any expectation that you’ll clothe them, teach them right from wrong, or pay for a college education. All they want is candy–a small price to pay for not having to change diapers.

And speaking of candy…

4. There’s candy

I would have taken a picture of Halloween candy to include here but, um, I, uh, handed it all out. Yeah…the children ate it. That’s what I’m going with.

5. You get to be someone else for a night

Sometimes life can get a little humdrum. People have expectations of you and if you don’t live up to them, well, there are social ramifications. But on Halloween, you don’t have to be you, you can be someone else…

Super-Family isn’t afraid to mix DC and Marvel heroes!

6. We get to mock our fears

Sometimes it seems like our whole culture runs on fear: fear that we’re getting older, fear that we’re not as successful as we ought to be, fear that other people have more friends than us, are better looking than us, are having more fun than us, fear that we’ll get toxins in our non-GMO cereal and that people whose political beliefs are different from our own are going to destroy the planet…
Sometimes we need to look at all that crap, own it, and just laugh.

Day of the dapper dead.

7) Fellowship with friends & neighbors

Finally, as we become more and more insulated as a culture, I’m glad there’s still a holiday where we’re encouraged to wander around our neighborhood and knock on our neighbors’ doors. For a lot of us, it’s the only time we’ll see most of our neighbors face to face all year. Also, Halloween is a great chance to hang out with friends and take photos of their kids.

You could have a multi-generational meetup, such as Padme and Princess Leia. (Do you see the family resemblance?)

You might also run into Tim Tebow and a trucker…who has lost his hat…and his radio. Look, it’s a long road–let’s just be glad he’s awake.

You might encounter Marceline the Vampire Queen and…her masked friend.

We would also be remiss if we didn’t thank this lovely fairy who helped make all these photos possible.

But as fantastic as Halloween is, please  celebrate responsibly, because when the Valkyrie and the intergalactic assassin throw down, you don’t want to miss it.

Happy Halloween!