Happy Halloween!!

In general, I wouldn't say I was a big fan of Halloween, at least not any more. Of course like any half-way normal kid, the idea of dressing up as someone entirely different than yourself and going from door to door asking for free candy, and actually getting it, was awesome and seemingly too good to be true. But the thing is, when a good thing is good, don't stop to wonder why, just enjoy it.

Unfortunately, no good thing lasts forever, as is evident in the fact that if I tried to dress up today at the ripe old age of 23 going from door to door asking for candy I'd either be considered crazy or creepy, both of which mean basically the same thing. Now a days, Halloween is seen as a holiday where guys dress up in the most gross costume they can find, either drenched with fake blood or whatever, and girls dress in as little clothes they possibly can while still keeping the slightest resemblance to whatever character it is they were trying to dress up as. That just isn't appealing to me at all and personally it's way too cold here in Boston to even think of dressing up, or maybe I should say, not dressing up.

But enough with the negativity. There are many reasons why I really do love Halloween. I'm not sure when it started, or even how it started, but a tradition began when I was younger and in elementary school when Erin and Katie, and I remember Kim, too, would all get together around Halloween and make decorations, carve pumpkins and, if I remember correctly, baked cookies, or something of along those lines. It was always so much fun, in fact we even made jack-o-lanterns together last year, and I'm sure if we were all within a 45 mile radius of one another, we'd get together and do it again this year.

And like I said, I used to dress up when I was younger, and I fondly remember my brother going as a "dead Confederate soldier" something like four years in a row, and my mom putting my sister in the already-outgrown dragon costume from five years prior. I myself, was a witch for at least three times during my youth, although I don't think it was consecutive years. So ya, we recycled costumes, but there was nothing like coming home that night and trading and bartering candy with my brothers and sisters - I never liked licorice or Twizzlers so I used to pawn it off to one of them in exchange of course for the more highly-demanded Butterfinger or Kit Kat. And then being able to take candy to school with you for lunch, even if you didn't eat your sandwich first, but instead chowed down on a package of Whoppers. Oh, it was good to be a kid!!

For now though, Happy Halloween to my brother and sister and to Erin, Katie, and Kim of course!