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We'll have Halloween on Christmas

There was a time when the thought of not trick or treating on Halloween saddened me. It was when I watched an episode of Our House and Chad Allen's character opted out of the activity, claiming he was too old for it. I couldn't fathom turning down the opportunity to get free candy from the neighborhood and dressing up in a costume. Couldn't fathom it at all.

And yet I haven't done it since middle school.

These days, I love handing out candy, within reason, on my street. My neighborhood is inundated on Halloween night with families and we run out of candy very quickly.

As much as I enjoy Halloween, I don't celebrate it like Christmas. I know people who decorate their downstairs and front doors with witches, skeletons, and jack-o-lanterns. Aside from the pumpkin carving party Matt and I help host, the most Halloween decoration you see is the plastic jack-o-lantern filled with candy.

Yesterday, on a trip to find certain pieces of the costumes we'll wear this weekend at parties, I came across an entire corner of Target devoted to Halloween decorations, separate from the candy and a little close to the ever-growing Christmas displays. I wondered why I don't decorate for Halloween.

I'm not critical of those who do and I'm not against doing it myself. I enjoy catching a few more scary/Halloween-related films during October and I don't object to pulling out a spooky Stephen King short story (especially as I'm finally rounding the curve with the epic Dark Tower series). I save my decorating skills for Christmas.

Maybe next October I'll be standing on a chair hanging orange lights and finding a place for a plastic skeleton. Then again, there are only a few days left of the month.

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