Lauren Lejeune

At the end of November, I will officially have been a homeowner for one year. It seems like time has just flown by and I’ve been able to make so many wonderful memories. From painting and decorating, growing a successful garden in my backyard to dealing with a broken water pipe and subsequently a flooded crawlspace, it has been nothing short of an exciting year.

I also recently celebrated my 22nd birthday. As you get older, birthdays don’t quite feel so magical, but I did get to celebrate my old age with some very special people in my life: the trick-or-treaters of Avenue J. 

Being born a Halloween baby comes with a ton of perks — costume parties at school, all the sugar you want and on top of it getting to go around town and hit all the doors you could get to before it was time to go home and go to sleep. But now I’m the adult, and I’ve got my very own house with the capability of becoming a high-producing candy residence. Let’s just say I was so excited to pass some candy out. 

It finally gets dark enough for the children to come out and I couldn’t be more excited. I’m passing candy out left and right — complimenting all the cool costumes and feeling so happy about the whole situation. An hour or so into the evening, I’m meeting a group of kids at the door.

“You got anything good in there?” An older kid, probably around my brother’s age, says to me as he peers into the bowl. “Is that Lindor?!”

I pull a piece out and offer it up, definitely not Lindor. “How bout a Twix?”

He scrunched his nose up and ran off the steps. 

I was in shock. Did he really just turn a Twix down? And how many houses out there are passing out Lindor chocolate? Lindor. Where does one find the houses with luxury Halloween candy? 

The rest of the evening passed quickly with no other incidents. But I couldn’t stop thinking about how my choice of candy was subpar compared to other houses around town. I was feeling pretty confident in my candy choices too. Chocolates, gummies, the whole nine yards. 

I was already thinking about how I could up my game next year. Maybe some yard decorations, more fall colors in the house or even some carved pumpkins for the front step. And what about my Christmas decorations? Should I string lights up on the house, or get an inflatable snowman?

I can already feel the spiral happening. Have I finally reached peak levels of adulthood? I feel as if I’ve entered an arms race against the other townies for the best house on the block. I thought “Keeping up with the Joneses” was just a saying, but this holiday season it’s become my livelihood.  

It’s good that I’m recognizing this pattern early on, it gives me enough time to curb the potential spending habits I could get from buying holiday decorations. As I write this, I just came home from a quick trip to Walmart and it took everything I had to only get the items I came for and not take a stroll through the Christmas section. Willpower, I think they call it. Thank goodness I’ve got some of that. 

But really, as I close this first year out, I have much to be thankful for. My wonderful family who’s helped me so much along this journey. Nate, who’s always willing to bring his tools over for whatever project I come up with. And most importantly, the USPS team who keeps up on my mail so well as I slowly collect more and more roommates. I promise to keep my sidewalk clean of snow, and a better candy bowl next Halloween.