Here's to new tradition!

I was always the odd ball amongst my siblings. I was rebellious where they were obedient. Loud where they were quiet. I was a Halloween fanatic when they were talking about Christmas in July. My parents were the type to decorate for Christmas the day after Halloween. My childhood wasn't terrible, exactly. But every once in a while, they found little ways to remind me that I didn't quite belong. Usually, it was something harmless. Another joke about my obsession with ghosts, another eye roll when I got excited about Halloween decorations, another reminder that I was the weird one. I would always just laugh with them but I quickly grew tired of the jokes.

Every New Year's Eve we met at my eldest sister’s house. Since Kacey was a single mom of two, it was just what was easiest. I had sat in my car parked in her driveway for the last twenty minutes just looking at her Christmas decorations. Because, of course, they were still out. Even with being a single mom, she still made sure to go all out. My younger brother often teased her about hiring someone to do it. But in truth, decorating was always something she had a knack at. 

I chuckled, taking one last hit from my vape before braving the Christmas decorations. As I locked my door, my phone chimed. 

My sister messaged the group chat: “The door is unlocked! Getting the kiddos ready for fireworks!” I smiled and walked up to her house. When I let myself in I yelled “It’s me!” as I made my way into the living room. Somewhere from the second floor I heard a muffled “We will be right down! Get yourself a drink or something!” I continued into the house, looking around at all the Christmas decorations. Even the tree was still up. I smiled, the commitment to the decorations was admirable. 

As I examined the tree, something caught my eye. Instead of tinsel on the tree they used spider-webbing. Three of the ornaments looked to be a witch hat, a ghost and a zombie. I felt a twinkle in my eye. These were the ornaments I had gotten to represent us when we were children. Originally I had gotten them for our parents but they never even bothered to put them out. I had eventually just assumed they got thrown away. But now that I thought about it, I don't even think I’ve seen my sister ever put out a Halloween decoration. The ornaments and spider-webbing stood out drastically in the tree. 

“How odd..” I muttered, feeling myself captivated by my sister's sudden interest in Halloween. What could have brought this on?

“Of course that's the first thing you notice.” my brothers' amused voice said from behind me. I jumped, quickly turned to look at him just as his 4 year old ran up to me.

“Auntie M!” My nephew cheered as I picked him up. 

“You aren't upset she put those up are you? Wait, you knew these were already here?”  I shot him a glance before rocking my nephew.

“Cousin Jack found them!” The four year old exclaimed as he bounced in my arms. ““He said he wescued them from a scawy box!” My brother sighed.

“Yeah…Kacey brought the kids over to our parents house somewhere around the beginning of December…” He looked away, bringing his arm to the back of his neck. 

“Well?” I slowly lowered my nephew back onto the floor. He hesitated.

“Well uh, Kacey wanted to be the one to tell you. But just to warn you as well. It’s just us tonight. Mom and Dad kinda…refused to come. You know how they are.” Her brother sighed as he picked up his son. “Kayla is due at the end of January so getting her to move anywhere at the moment is hard. I think her family should be at the house so she isn’t alone.” He looked towards the stairs where toddlers ran towards them. My sister, making her way down the stairs.

“Auntie M! Uncle Peyton!” The kids cheered as they grabbed onto our legs. My brother,Peyton, put down his son and the three of them ran into the next room. 

“I know you both haven’t been here long but” Kacey paused looking between Peyton and I. “Well, Meranda, I’m sure Peyton already told you there was something I needed to tell you.” She took a deep breath. “I will try not to make this long. The kids and I had gone to our parents house. You know how mom was a hoarder…well I guess they had finally decided to empty out the basement because they had just towers of boxes outside the house for a garage sale. Jackson got curious and started digging around and came across a box labeled” She hesitated.

“Disgrace” My stomach tightened.

 “It was all your Halloween gifts you’d given them through the years.” Kacy smiled. “Looking at that box made me realize some things and Jackson absolutely loved everything in that box.” She took a breath, smiling towards where the kids had run off to. “I think having kids has helped me understand better..You can’t deny a holiday out of your child's life. You can’t make fun of them for being different.” She pulled me into a hug, my brother joining. 

“I told our parents that from now on we would be celebrating Halloween.” Kacey laughed. “As you can imagine, neither of us had heard much from them since.” 

“Kacey and I are sorry for never stopping them.” My brother finally spoke up. “We never realized how cruel we were actually being.” 

“Jackson actually admires you a lot, Mer. He’s been really loving Halloween since we found that box and he wants to see your themed home.” After she told me that I couldn’t help but pull them into a tighter hug. Tears began to form in my eyes. For the first time I felt seen. For the first time I felt accepted. 

They finally understand me. 

Jackson came running back into the room, dragging a box behind him. “Can we have Halloween at your house?” he asked. I looked at Kacey. She smiled.

“Sounds like a plan.” I laughed, reaching down to take Jackson's hand.

Outside, fireworks began exploding across the sky, bright colors reflecting against the windows. It was New Year's Eve. Christmas decorations still covered the house. Halloween had been over for months. And for once, I didn't care that it was the wrong time of year. Maybe some things didn't need to happen at the right time. Maybe sometimes they just needed to happen when you finally needed them.