BOO!

Okay, I’ll say it. I really don't like Halloween. I didn’t always despise it. I loved it when I was a kid. The mothers in the neighborhood would stay home and answer the door while the dads took us kids trick or treating. What I didn’t know at that time was the fathers were trick or treating for shots.

I know some just love this “holiday” but as soon as I had kids I became anti-halloween. First let me say I love candy, especially Mallo Cups and Dove chocolate so candy is not the issue here. I’m not one of those people that scream about pagan rituals and anti Christian dogma.

What I hate is the costume dilemma. I’m creative in some areas but so not in this area. I can never think of any good ideas and I do not want to spend any money on any part of a costume at all. As a parent I tried hard not to use bribery in my repertoire but succumbed one Halloween. One year when my kids were little I said that if we skipped trick or treating I would take them to the store and buy them each a bag of any candy they wanted. They agreed. The next year before I could even bring it up they informed me that no way will they fall for that again, they wanted to go out and trick or treat. Rats.

We don’t get many trick or treaters in my part of the neighborhood. We live at the end of the street and there are no houses beyond us, just woods. The kids tend to stay deep in the neighborhood. I do enjoy the ones we get. I like to see the little ones in the costumes that the creative mothers think up. I even get a few past and present students come to my door. I also give out good candy. I hated as a kid when you got the really cheap stuff like suckers. I give out full size candy bars since I only get about 10 - 20 ghost and goblins.

So if you love Halloween and really get into it, great! Have a wonderful party or whatever. As for me, I’ll stay home and watch a scary movie. I like the movies that leave some things to the imagination, not all blood and guts in your face. I subscribe to the theory that less is more.