The Popcorn Stand: HallowThanksMas can wait, I love this time of year

I’ve been trying to get into the HalloThanksMas spirit, but it’s still a little early. I looked up what was trending this year as far as what the potential Halloween costumes would be and I wasn’t too impressed. The choices ranged from uninteresting to downright hideous.

I think part of my lack of HalloThanksMas spirit was the fact I missed Thanksgiving. Canadian Thanksgiving. Canadians already celebrated their Thanksgiving this week as they do every year on the second Monday of October.

Canadians pretty much celebrate Thanksgiving the way we do in the states (I’m sure that’s how Canadians and those from other countries refer to us) except it’s obviously not just part of the two-month HalloThanksMas extravanganza that we’ve developed. I may try to lead an effort to move our Thanksgiving to early October, but I know that would never fly.

So I guess we’ll just continue to debate Columbus Day versus Indigenous People’s Day every year early in October while Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving.

But just because I’m not yet into the HalloThanksMas spirit doesn’t mean I don’t love this time of year. As a matter of fact it’s my favorite time of the year, especially here in the Northern Nevada area. A jaunt around Spooner Lake with the chill still in the air some late October morning with the fall colors — there’s nothing like it.

And whenever I get a chance to return to the San Joaquin Valley in October, I get excited. Really. Because I know I’ll enjoy looking at the huge pumpkin patches on my drive along Jack Tone Road.

Of course as a sports fan this is a great time of year with college and NFL football and the Major League Baseball playoffs.

So HallowThanksMas can wait. I’ll take in everything early October has to offer.

— Charles Whisnand