Halloween - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I have always had very ambivalent feelings about Halloween. It is, generally, a holiday that gets on my nerves in a big way - probably because I never celebrated it when I was growing up in France (I have to admit that, of course, I never celebrated Thanksgiving either, and I kind of like Thanksgiving, because it is a true "family" holiday.) So, I will try to make up two lists here, one of things I do not like about Halloween, and one of things that I like about it.

Things I do not like about Halloween:

1. The Halloween aisle at the Wal-Mart or at K-Mart is set up by September 1. Way too early, as far as I'm concerned. Even more depressing is the fact that Christmas items will be on display in the same aisle by tomorrow.
2. Too much candy - very bad for your teeth.
3. Way too much orange and black - it becomes tiresome very fast.
4. The imagery sucks. I hate black cats, witches, skeletons, ghosts, ghouls, and spiders (although I bought a Halloween cup with a spider on it the other day.)
5. Mischief Night - what's with toilet papering somebody's yard, or breaking eggs on windows and cars? Smashing pumpkins is pretty idiotic too.
6. Costumes and costume parties - I am not too fond of them. I have been to one Halloween party in my entire life, I went dressed as the Statue of Liberty, it was quite fun, actually. The host of the party was an academic, and nearly everyone invited was a PhD, so the costumes were rather clever - although no one came dresssed up as an academic slut (I am trying to get a clear mental image of what that would be as I am writing this) or as a lecherous professor.
7. Having to come up with a costume idea for your kid, and the fact that this often involves being good at sewing or really crafty. I am neither. (Note: this is a picture of Claire in a store-bought dinosaur costume that she wore for Halloween 1988. She was two years old.)
8. Having to take your kids trick-or-treating in 30 degree weather.
9. Having to deal with children on a sugar high after trick-or-treating is over.
10. The plethora of horror flicks that come out around Halloween time, and the horror movie festivals on TV. I hate horror movies, they spook the hell out of me, and I never watch them.
11. Haunted Houses - they scare the hell out of me too. We once took Claire to the one at the Pittsburgh zoo, and she got so spooked that we had to turn around and leave.

Things I like about Halloween:

1. The Halloween aisle at the Wal-Mart or K-Mart - especially if I can find Snoopy-themed stuff.
2. Candy, of course. I always buy the Hershey minis variety pack, mini Mounds and Almond Joys, and mini Milky Ways. I also like mini Snicker bars. No peanut butter cups, please.
3. Orange and black. On Halloween day, I always wear black clothes, with my orange "Just Say Boo" pin that I have had for a zillion years (it is beginning to fade.)
4. The imagery - yes, it sucks, but all of those scary things can be rendered as really cute - for example, Casper the Ghost. Who said that scary could not be cute and friendly?
5. Carving pumpkins - that is tremendously fun and the end product is quite satisfying.
6. Making pumpkin soup - by far my favorite Halloween-related activity. Eating the soup is even better, since I absolutely love pumpkin soup.
7. Trick-or-treaters - I do not like doing the trick-or-treating, and I am actually quite relieved not to have to do it anymore, but I like having kids come to my place. I will actually go to Marty's tonight, because he gets more trick-or-treaters than I do, even though he lives even more in the boondocks that I do. (Note: This is a picture of my nephew, Jason, who is now 28 years old, taken at Halloween 1985, he was about 7 or 8 then.)
8. Giving out candy to my students - I do this every year. Yesterday, a funny thing happened. I passed around a bowl with candy bars in it at the beginning of my 10:00 a.m. class, and it sat on my desk (lots of candy still in it) for the rest of the class period. At the end of class, as I was talking to other students, one student walked up to the bowl, and literally stuffed his pockets with about 5 or 6 candy bars that he took from the bowl. It's never happened before.
9. How excited little kids get about Halloween. Claire, as I mentioned it, got spooked once at the Pittsburgh Zoo haunted house, and also a few years earlier (she was just three) by a neighbor dressed as a spooky witch, and we had to quit the trick-or-treating right then and there. But, otherwise, she'd get really into what costume to get, etc. In her "Pinocchio" period, she got dressed as Pinocchio. For her first Halloween, she was dressed as a California Raisin - one of my employees had made her this costume - I think that if I really scoured my house, I could still find it - maybe.
10. Memories of Halloweens past. Doing this exercise took me on a fun little sentimental journey, and I am glad that I was able to find those pictures and to post them here.