Happy Halloween, readers, as if 2020 isn’t scary enough.

My Awtry family’s Halloween history goes way back. Growing up, we decorated more for Halloween than any other holiday. My parents would have the occasional Halloween party, but my older sister soon took that to an entirely new level. Tombstones erected at her front door with all her guests’ names on them, along with a brief recount of how they may have passed. Skeletons, severed limbs, fake blood, cobwebs, sound effects greeted you when you entered their haunted house. That was not an occasional event. It was an annual spook fest.

Well, I wasn’t much better, taking those traditions with me as I married and had children.

We would begin making their costumes months in advance. Paper mache horses, astronauts, race cars, complete with engine sound effects and headlights, glue, wire, paint, straps and string were strewn all over the garage. Come Halloween evening, we had people hiding under black-lit “graves” made of leaves, with my son ready to leap out at the wary trick-or-treaters, sending them running back to their waiting parents. That’s when my wife, Josie, would be there in a flash, with the plastic pumpkin full of treats and a comforting hug for the youngsters, saying it was OK, that old man was just nuts.

Then my son moved away, started his own family, and the stakes got bigger. He had technology on his side, and, soon, his home became a frightening, animated panorama of special effects, again complete with month-long preparations for his annual Halloween party, culminating with sprits of all kinds singing karaoke till near-dawn. It was a spectacular extravaganza.

So, a couple months ago I asked him what were his plans this year. His response was short: COVID-19, he said.

No party, but that wasn’t going to stop the yard displays. I got a peek at it the other night on FaceTime. There were at least a half-dozen full-size skeletons, erect and in a running pose, obviously speeding away from something more frightening than them.

What were they running from, you might ask? Well, the year 2020, of course. Giant, 4-foot tall, blood-red numbers, 2020, mounted in his grass!

Damn this pandemic. It just won’t let go. I’m sure one of the most pleasurable nights of the year for most children will be pared down this year, a year that has already wreaked tragedy and fear across the land, and making mask-wearing an everyday thing, not just reserved for Halloween. We’ll get through this, but 2020 can’t pass on fast enough for me.

But the good news: My grandchildren’s pumpkins are carved and are complete with candles lit in these days leading up to Halloween. Spooky cookies are frosted and the candy is bought. Old habits are hard to change, and for good reason, in this case. I like chocolate.

The most important thing is that we all stay safe this year, which is why I have turned my attention to Christmas already. My safe place is my garage/shop, where special gifts are taking shape among the sawdust and sandpaper. The year 2020 hasn’t infested my garage, yet, so, unlike my son’s skeletons, I am not running away from 2020, but I am hoping the future will not be as scary as our recent past.

It’s important we make the best of Halloween 2020 this year, along with as many lasting memories for the kids as possible.

Have a safe Halloween everyone.

Greg Awtry is the former publisher of the Scottsbluff (Neb.) Star-Herald and Nebraska’s York News-Times. He is now retired and living in Hubbard Lake. Greg can be contacted at gregawtry@awtry.com.