Hallowe'en

This year, I was pleasantly surprised to NOT see Hallowe'en decorations (indoor or outdoor) until Oct. 1st. And after some initial grinchiness on my part and having been the recipient of a very sweet memory of the late, great Rachel Carr (whose favorite day was Halloween), I decided I had to quit being negative about sugary candy, greedy kids begging and being surrounded by gore, and get into the "spirit" of things. So I bought three giant bags of candy at Sam's and looked up some costume ideas online (the cheap, simple kind).

And voila,

I am a salt shaker. Actually after this picture was taken, my co-worker and friend Rick made me a battery necklace so I could be a salt and battery. He is clever. Here is his costume.

He DOES go all out.

Hopefully I can add more costume pics later.

Hope you have a safe, fun Halloween.

Don't forget to brush!

The Halloween Grinch

I feel like a Halloween Grinch. I've seen lawn and door decorations for Halloween since early September and it bugs me. Some of these are "cute" and harmless, others are gory and downright spooky...like the ring of floating ghosts holding hands around the tree on Center St. Yeesh! I hate to run past that thing.

I don't want to "celebrate" this "holiday" this year, I want to skip it. I really don't feel like buying or coming up with costumes for the kids (or myself). (Though Jim mentioned that if our little kids go to school without costumes, they will be labeled weirdos. Imagine, a 4-foot vampire or spiderman calling my daughter a weirdo.)

I don't want to buy candy to hand out at home and at work that I REALLY SHOULDN'T eat. I don't like the idea of kids going door to door on a dark, cold night, begging for sugar and forgetting to say thank-you. Then getting sick on it for hours...or days. I can see why my parents didn't let us trick or treat when we were kids. (The begging factor, the safety issue, a candy haul, etc.)

Don't get me wrong. I like bobbing for apples, pumpkins on the porch and suspenseful movies. Just not all the gory yard decorations, giant spiders in grocery stores, candy wrappers all over the lawn, smashed pumpkin bits on the street, etc. I wish the whole thing would just go away. Can we skip it this year? Please?