I hope Halloween treated you well. Mine was quiet: two trick-or-treaters came by, which means I’m now left with a rather large bowl of Twizzlers, Reese’s and Jolly Ranchers. The kids who walked past my house have no idea what they missed. Or maybe they do.
Paul Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ star pitcher, and his girlfriend, Livvy Dunne, seemed to enjoy the holiday. Their costumes, though, feel like a leap ahead for anyone who would rather let Halloween have its moment before thinking about Christmas.
The pair dressed as Buddy the Elf and a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup. It’s a clever match—Buddy is famously enthusiastic about syrup—but still, Christmas already?
Even Neal Page and Del Griffith from Planes, Trains and Automobiles wouldn’t have skipped Halloween and Thanksgiving to get straight to Christmas. At least, I don’t think they would.
The costumes brought back a Halloween from a few years ago. I was working in my office and watching the 1933 film The Invisible Man when I heard my wife searching around in the closet. A little while later, she came out carrying our Christmas tree and started setting it up. The Invisible Man hadn’t even left the Lion’s Head Inn yet.
I’m not especially strict about waiting until after Thanksgiving to enjoy Christmas. I’ll hum a carol before then, or take a mini candy cane from a bank teller’s desk. But I usually save the full Christmas treatment until I’ve recovered from Thanksgiving dinner.
Skenes and Dunne, apparently, are already there, while plenty of people are still in Halloween costumes and making their first Jell-O shots of the night. Their costumes are great. I just think Halloween deserves a little more time before we start worrying about Amazon gift cards for the family.
