the .: fyr :. light

I’ll be honest, for all the years that I lived in Jamaica and knew about this thing called Halloween, I have yearned to decorate my yard with the paraphernalia associated with the season: skulls, headstones, witches on brooms, cobwebs and spiders, pumpkin heads … you get the idea.  It always seemed to be chic to decorate your home to match the season. The problem in Jamaica always was the fact that homes aren’t open to the public the way they are here. No one really sees your front door, or front veranda (porch?) or “picture window” (if you even have one). And if they can see it, it is likely far away from the gate of the property (all homes are gated and fenced around) and guarded by some mean looking dogs or a large sign proclaiming the fact that the property is protected by one of the very well known local security companies. It isn’t worth a night in jail, a dog bite or anything else just to see the decorations.

I have joked to my husband the way I have heard my parents joking to friends here in the US for years: any home with burglar bars is a guaranteed Caribbean inhabitant.  It’s not so much the crime that is being kept out, but the comfort of familiar window trappings and the feeling of security they give. It is my experience that burglar bars on your windows do one thing: force the thieves to take smaller items out through the window (I had my cell phones – work and personal – stolen from me at my parents house by being fished through my window while everyone was in another part of the house a few years ago). Oh yes – they also make fake cobwebs look silly.

So, here I am, I got married and moved here to the US and now it’s Halloween and I would dearly love to do what I have always dreamed of doing – decorating the house for the season. There is a lot more that comes with this activity, however, as my husband informed me. If you’re house is decorated, and your porch light is on, the kids will come trick or treatin’ and you better have candy to give.

Now, I am not THAT much of a snob that I don’t want to give candy to kids. It’s more like I am THAT much of a concerned adult and refuse to give candy to kids so that it’s OK to eat candy until you’re sick to your stomach or until Mommy and Daddy need to buy you new clothes because you’re packing on the pounds (nothing is more heartbreaking to see than an obese 4 year old). I am sorry, but this part of Halloween celebrations is not one that I agree with and I don’t know how I am going to manage with my kids (should they ever arrive) … but frankly I don’t see how buckets and buckets of candy is something to celebrate.

What does that make me?

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