Haul Out the Halloween

Following their autumn wedding, Emily nee Melrose and Jared Farnsworth have just returned from their honeymoon to find that they have new neighbors, the Balmers, Luna and Marvin, who, gasp, are Halloween fanatics, Evergreen Lane, as per the name, which is all about Christmas. With officious Jared the current President, Jared and Emily know the Balmers' Halloween display is against Evergreen Lane's Homeowners Association (HOA) bylaws, or so they believe. They learn from Emily's parents, Albert and Gail Melrose, the former the original President, that the ban of Halloween was never officially written into the bylaws, and that they only stopped doing Halloween following a scare incident when Emily was a child, that the year that Emily's Grandmother Melrose passed away, she who embraced Halloween. As the ban centers on Emily without her having ever known, she okays the HOA discussing the possibility of reinstating Halloween. With the caveat of keeping the scare factor to a maximum five out of ten on the "Nosferatu" scale to keep it family friendly, they do pass the motion, transferring many of their Christmas traditions to this holiday. In the process, Emily feels the need to reach out to the source of that scare, Ashlynn Ashworth, now a local on air reporter, to bury the hatchet, Ashlynn who may have her own opinion about rekindling their relationship. Emily also comes to a crossroads about her career, she, less than fulfilled as a copywriter, who contemplates returning to what was originally a failed attempt at being a writer. And Jared has what to him is the biggest scare when he discovers something about his family life. Through it all, Grandmother Melrose oversees the proceedings from the other world.