Almost Halloween

Have I mentioned this is my favorite time of year? Cool, crisp fall weather, the changing colors of the leaves, cider and donuts, apple picking, pumpkin carving (and pumpkin seeds! yummy!) hay rides, haunted houses and, of course, Halloween.


Which happens to be my favorite holiday. Why?


Well, first of all, I don't have to buy presents. Not that I begrudge giving gifts or anything, but everything is so commercial nowadays I get tired of the "Buy Buy Buy!" mentality that seems to run it all. For pete's sake, kids are even getting loads of gifts on EASTER now. When I was a kid, the Easter bunny left a basket with some candy and hid eggs. That was it. He didn't bring me a Wii and an Ipod. (Okay, so those didn't exist when I was a kid, but you know what I mean...) So I like the fact that, so far, there's no mythological "Halloween Bat" creature who goes around leaving X-Boxes for kids on All Hallows Night.


Second... I love the candy. I have the biggest sweet tooth in the known world, and if I indulged it as much as I wanted, I would have to join the circus or undergo gastric bypass. Seriously. It's that bad.


Halloween gives me an excuse to not only buy candy (because, of course, we have to have stuff to give out on Halloween!) but to eat candy. Leftover candy (and no, I'm not one of those moms who buys the gross stuff like Smarties or those awful black and orange wrapped chewy things so I won't eat it, either) and of course, candy stolen from my children's pillowcases.


Yes, I admit it. I'm a candy thief. I love the guy who started putting razor blades in candy. Or at least, I love the guy who started the rumor about the guy... I do! That means I get to "check" their candy and make sure it's safe before they eat it. Gee, honey, let me see that Snickers, I think there might be - CHOMP - nope, that one's fine, here's the rest...


Third, I love scary movies and Halloween is a perfect excuse to watch them.


Fourth, I love pumpkin carving. Okay, so I hate cutting out the top of the pumpkin, and scooping out pumpkin guts, and sorting pumpkin seeds, and actually deciding what to carve and then carving it and then cleaning up the pumpkin mess. I hate that part. But I love the end result!

And the pumpkin seeds.

And the kids won't love it like this forever.

Even the big ones!

Tomorrow's the big day!