Boo!

Hallowe'en is one of those holidays that I just don't get.  Sure, I understand its origins and I'm aware of how it works, but I've never been a huge Hallowe'en fan.

Of course, as a child I enjoyed putting on a costume and collecting candy.  However, every Hallowe'en of my childhood was so cold and snowy that I always had to wear a parka over my costume, mittens on my hands, and sometimes even a scarf wrapped around my face, which kind of killed the costume effect.  So I was really only in it for the candy.

My family was never big on Hallowe'en decorating either.  We had only two store-bought window decorations that I can recall -- a human skeleton and a hissing black cat.  I liked the cat just because I've always liked cats; I could take or leave the skeleton.  When we were tasked with creating Hallowe'en decorations during art class in school, those would also be taped to the window the year they were created, but never again after that (and trust me, this was a good thing).  Where I live now the kids don't go door-to-door trick or treating any more -- they gather for a group party at a local community club.  So there's really no point in putting up decorations in my area unless you just like to do so.

All of this may explain why, when Breyer and Stone come out with their flurry of Hallowe'en horses each October, I'm usually not the least little bit interested in them.  I have no desire whatsoever to bedeck my home with a Hallowe'en theme.  Usually.  But I have to admit that, for the last two years, I've almost caved in and bought Breyer's Classic-scale Hallowe'en horses.  With Bogeyman, they chose a mold I was fond of (although it was originally a mare and not a "man") and I liked the multi-coloured dripping paint effect they came up with for what I assume was supposed to be "goo."  With Salem, I very much liked the cat-shaped pinto pattern they came up with.  I thought the cats were very subtle, and the colour scheme reminded me a lot of Hamilton, the horse that came to stay.  I also liked the glow-in-the-dark effect which is apparently pretty intense on this horse.  However, I reined in my enthusiasm and held back from buying them both. 

(On a somewhat unrelated note, I'm betting next year's Hallowe'en Classic will be on the Malik mold -- perhaps something with a "hair-raising" theme.  I've noticed that ever since the release of Goblin in 2017, Breyer has put their Hallowe'en decorations on the previous year's Horse of the Year, so Malik would make sense for 2020).

The funny thing is that I was fairly certain that I'd never indulged in buying any Hallowe'en horse at all until I remembered the Trick or Treat Play Set of 2010.  Being a huge fan of Breyer's Traditional Shetland Pony, that set was a must-have for me.

I named the pony "Boo."  Remember, this was back in 2010, so I wasn't just copying the name of this year's Breyer Hallowe'en plush.  (I also have a Breyer named "Boo Radley," but that's another story).

Once out of his costume, "Boo" is one of the nicer Shetlands in my collection.  He's a very pretty blue roan with a sweet white face and a smattering of small sabino spots.  In his costume, he doesn't look like anything much, but it is a very cute costume all the same.  Although I've never set him up as a Hallowe'en decoration (since I don't do Hallowe'en decorations), I'm beginning to think that I should make some tiny candy bars to fill his bucket and try to set up some kind of scene with him -- just for the fun of it.  It's not going to happen this year, but next year, who knows?

For those of you who do love this holiday, I hope you have a happy Hallowe'en.  As for me, I think I'll just buy a couple of candy bars and let the rest of it pass me by.