Archive for December, 2008

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Haunted Mansion Holiday

December 24th, 2008 by John Wolfe

With it being the night before Christmas, would you expect me to feature anything else but a good old Halloween themed Christmas post? :) Perhaps, nothing will ever come to mind quicker, when combining these two holidays, than the Tim Burton – Disney (Touchstone Pictures) collaboration of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Although I’m familiar with the film, I didn’t realize, until tonight, Disneyland has been revamping their Haunted Mansion attraction in a TNBFC theme, since 2001.

The mansion merges its original content with a Halloween Town / Christmas Town combo that features jack-o-lanterns donning Santa hats, cheery skull wreaths, and of course – The Pumpkin King. Each year they add new elements to keep the attraction fresh.

Whatever you may celebrate – I hope everyone has a great Holiday Season.

Image Sources for The Pumpkin King and Jack-O-Lanterns in Snow

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Halloween: the Antithesis of Christmas?

December 23rd, 2008 by John Wolfe

A few days ago, I stopped by the post office to mail the Ghost Adventures and Travel Channel prizes. One of the regular, really kind clerks gave me some gentle ribbing about this being the wrong time of year for me. She knows all about Season of Shadows and my love affair with Halloween. I joked back, explaining how most people probably consider me, Mr. Halloween, to be the antithesis of Christmas – so her comment was probably right on the mark.

The funny thing, however, is Halloween (for me) has the same type of giving, loving, amazingly magical feelings which I also associate with Christmas. Just because I run around playing with creepy things, in the dark, for several months out of the year doesn’t mean I’m dark and creepy…or does it? :)

For most, Christmas is traditionally a very pious time of year. For me, it’s a reminder of our spiritual selves and the unified connection we all share with one another.

Similarly, Halloween brings forth many of the same feelings, but in a more mysterious, supernatural manner. It reminds me of some of the very early, wise, insightful, spiritual connections humankind shared with one another, nature and the earth (prior to the introduction of modern social conditioning and methods of fear based control).

While spooky Halloween props and decorations provide a nice form of entertainment, they’re definitely not what Halloween is all about. If we step outside the box, for a moment, and strip away the modern commercialized spin associated with both holidays– I believe we’ll find they’re not so different after all. And, with that being said – Happy Holidays!

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