Halloweeeeeeeeennnn!

I love Halloween. I think that the notion of running through the dark, from house to house, in costume collecting candy is pure genius. Seriously. Whoever came up with it was at one with childhood. As a society, we are working hard at ruining it.....making it 'safe', making it 'all natural', convincing our children that the one night sugar high is bad, moving it to random nights other than Halloween, and pronouncing it evil or anti-Christian. Bah humbug!

Some of my fondest memories as a child are of Halloween. Running, hell for leather, through our neighborhoods with my friends and my dad's flashlight. Eventually the batteries would die and we'd still be flying through the dark. Tripping and falling and getting slapped in the face with branches but thrilled and euphoric, none the less. I have no memory of my parents going with us. They were at home doling out candy to the ghouls and goblins. They weren't worried about us. We weren't out smoking crack with pedophiles, for pete's sake, we were trick or treating!

And it was tons of fun to ponder the old razor blade in the apple scenario. Every kid knew that story and was wary of the fruitcake (or loser) that might dare to give out apples in lieu of candy. And then there were the dark and eerie houses that we'd tiptoe around and speculate on the evil stirring inside....and then someone would hear something or see a flickering light and, again, we'd be off! The imagination works triple time on Halloween and it's probably compounded by an enchanting sugar high. But we weren't too worried about our sugar intake.

We were kids having an inordinate amount of fun on one very special night.

Did you come home and dump your bag out and marvel at the wonders? Did you divide it into categories and pull your favorite ones close to you? Did you barter and trade with your siblings? Did you count every last piece?

Wasn't it grand?