On October 31st

American Holidays, eh. What are they about? Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Columbus Day. Like all the other made up American holidays which clutter up the year they mostly seem to revolve around the heroic consumption of canned produce and the willful misremembrance of historical atrocities.

Of course October is the 30 day prequel to Halloween; the cheerful holiday about the dead. It's the only holiday which is specifically designed to encourage children to decorate their house, and dress up, as the things we fear the most. Or rather, the things that pop-culture thinks we fear the most, rather than the things that anyone actually fears.

Fear of the Student Loans Service trying to recover the money I blew on '"bettering myself" through "education"

I guess it's because it's hard to market the theme of 'psychologically-crippling existential angst', or 'the fragility of an insignificant life in the face of the uncaring universe's eternal, infinite vacuum', or 'our meaningless day-to-day existence guarantees that most of our dreams will remain forever unachieved'. Which is a shame, because I'd love to see a 6 year old dressed as 'the constant but uncomfirmable worry that my parents may not love me as much as they say'.

Still, I guess it's easier to sell a pointy hat, a mask and a broomstick, and brand a kid as a witch. Monetising our fears is something of an American pastime, which is why Halloween is indelibly linked with the American pop-culture psyche. Ever since FDR said we have nothing to fear but fear itself, America has been busy rewriting that list to 'fear itself (and also the supernatural)' and slapping a pricetag on its likeness.

I freaking love Halloween, you guys. I mean, I love pretty much all the holidays, but Halloween has a special place in my heart, just because of how under-exposed to it we are in England. It just is not a thing, which makes watching any TV show or movie featuring Halloween seem much more glamorous for being so alien. I've been really excited to get a taste of that, and it's been stoked by the massive amount of pre-Holiday lead up America goes in for.

Unlike the UK where Halloween is a strictly one day event, America has decorations appearing from the very start of the month. Pumpkins sprout from lawns, ghosts appear floating in trees, and I'm pretty sure that somebody was probably releasing live vampire bats into the neighborhood, just to add to that holiday atmosphere. When it's still two weeks from Halloween and there's a glow in the dark sarcophagi in peoples front yards, you know you're in for a treat.

In fact, the whole country went full out for the spirit of Halloween, by getting irrationally terrified about Ebola; a disease whose status as disaster du jour belies the fact that, so far it's had about as much of an impact on America as a whole as incidences of people accidentally lighting the black candle and raising their towns witches from the dead.

Threat of Sanderson Sisters returning > Threat of an Ebola epidemic in the US

On the night itself my friends, the neighbourhood Moms, invited us out with their families. The kids were banding together to go trick-or-treating so while the Zapf's went to the movies, JJ and I took Mina out with them. On a float. Meaning that as the kids went door to door the parents sat on a decorated trailer being pulled along behind a four wheeler, drinking Jello shots and beer. This is doing Halloween right. At the end of the evening, we passed a house that was giving out warm apple cider and mini sausages around a house fire. America. you guys. Give them your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, and they'll give out cocktail weiners at Halloween.

Unfortunately, even the offer of sausages and cider couldn't keep us outside much past an hour. Whilst winter hasn't properly come yet, even into November we've not had any of the long promised snow, the temperature has dropped incredibly. I'd reused my Superman outfit from my stag, but was disappointed to find that whatever flammable material it's made out of isn't suitable for withstanding sub-zero degrees. Which is probably legit, because I doubt Superman even notices temperature differentials; dude flies in space, and it gets chilly out there. He's not likely to have a costume that emphasises utility. I also didn't shave my beard, because, rationally, how would Superman do that?

Finding a comics appropriate, weather suitable, scientifically accurate Superman costume is hard.

What it would be pretty easy to do, and definitely something I will consider for next year, is to get a theme costume going with Mina. I wanted to dress him as Professor X, JJ as Jean Grey and find a Cyclops costume, but I've since come up with the much better idea of going as Bane, with Mina as post-Knightfall Bruce Wayne.

May need to work on getting some spherical chest implants first.

This year however, Mina refused to go as Batman, thwarting the 'World's Finest' team up I had looked forward to.

JJ refused to dress up at all, because she hates fun of all kinds.