OPINION: RUBY: So Much for Halloween This Year

Nov. 1—Here we are on the first of November, Halloween is barely over, and I'm already in a Christmas frame of mind.

This didn't happen overnight, without cause. As I merrily tripped through October, surrounded by all my Halloween ambiance, our family was hit by a major hacking of our phones and computers. We endured a very scary ten days which involved shutting down everything, then wiping phones and reformatting computers. To say nothing of visits to the State Police and FBI.

As I scrambled to secure my financial accounts, I worried about my son, who was hit the hardest.

At first my attitude was "I'm not gonna let this spoil Halloween for me." I defiantly wore my holiday t-shirts and sweaters.

But in the midst of everything, I found my zest for Halloween dissipating. This was one very nasty trick. Maybe on a par with finding your out-house up on the roof in the olden days. Definitely not funny.

Sadly, Halloween was over for me. I found myself contemplating taking down my decorations. If I weren't expecting some cute goblins on their special night, I probably would have.

Sort of interesting how the anxiety took a psychological toll on my holiday spirit. My mind just shifted into Christmas mode. The Halloween CD's got buried under several Christmas ones. Into the car went Nat King Cole and TSO's "The Lost Christmas Eve."

In full-blown escapist mode, I drove to Richmond to check out Hobby Lobby's yard offerings. Well, I might have done that anyway, as I wanted to add to my "Lights Around London" yard display before all the good stuff disappeared, and I suspected it was already on sale.

It was, but oddly enough, while their fall decor was 40% off, their Christmas collections were 50% off. Go figure.

So, that trip proved productive. I've been driving around with a bunch of decorations in my trunk for almost two weeks now, trying to decide if I should just put them in the yard or stash them in the garage for a few weeks.

The same goes for inside the house. Last Wednesday, in a rebellious moment, I put my pretty Christmas soap dispenser on the kitchen sink.

Last night, as soon as my expected visitors had departed with their treats, I pulled out the Halloween bins. That usually doesn't happen for about a week, but not this year.

When I went to the library, instead of checking out Ray Bradbury spooky stories and Halloween mysteries, I found myself browsing my Christmas book list. I'm currently on my third one.

That in itself was an adventure, though, because I couldn't find several titles I'd jotted down. Turns out Romance novels are a separate shelving genre. I should probably be embarrassed to admit I didn't know that. But once located, I dropped several titles into my library bag.

Sadly, I didn't watch Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes," because I started on Christmas movies instead. If I had the Hallmark channel, I'd probably be binge-watching while sipping my cocoa and munching freshly baked ginger cookies.

When I related all of this to my son's family, his wife laughingly said, "Mom's skipping Thanksgiving this year and going straight to Christmas."

Of course, that got me to thinking. I do like Thanksgiving. I typically berate the fact that we sort of gloss over it (not much profit for businesses) to begin the Christmas shopping stampede as early as possible.

But I am considering. Maybe instead of pulling out Christmas bins tomorrow, I'll bring in the Thanksgiving ones. It's a hard choice this year. Either way, I'm leaving that Christmas soap dispenser on the kitchen sink.

After all, some Christmas markets in Europe open as early as November 10th. Yeah, that's probably a weak argument—I don't think they have Thanksgiving celebrations to complicate things.

Well, maybe I could alternate holidays: Christmas in the living room, Thanksgiving in the dining room . . .

Or maybe I could just get a grip. Sitting on my deck, getting my 20 minutes of daily sun prescribed by my doctor, and enjoying the autumn clusters of flowers, reminds me of how much I like the fall. Even if I am currently finishing that third Christmas romance.

Maybe I need to think about this Christmas impulse a little more. At the rate I'm going, I'll be decorating for Easter by mid-December.