Halloween

Me and Carleen were talking about Halloween for us as kids and how different it is now. Observe: I’m here, alone, except for Liam, it’s 6:30 as I write this, yet I haven’t had a single trick-or-treater. 10 - 15 years ago, I should have several rings of the doorbell, by at least the younger crowd still out with their parents. It’s probably just as well, we didn’t buy any candy anyway, we never get trick-or-treaters. Also, both the mall and Wal-Mart are having a trick-or-treat night. In a way, it’s kind of sad - a generation of kids with parents so scared of some vague, ethereal boogeyman (read: pedophile), that they’re subjected to trick-or-treating in bright, safe gigantic symbols of American commerce. I understand the fear, I really do, I’m wondering if I won’t fall prey to the same fears as Liam grows older. Isn’t it better to fear the boogeyman that’s not there, than to risk allowing your child to fall prey to the one that is?

Halloween has almost returned back into an “adult” holiday, instead of taking your kids out trick-or-treating, you drop them off at the babysitters while you dress up to go to a Halloween party. Maybe that’s what Hallloween is morphing into, I don’t know. Maybe I’m just out of touch with the trick-or-treat crowd. Maybe it’s just more Bible belt, anti-pagan trash that’s ruining my holiday. What I’m really sad about is how apathetic I’ve become towards the whole holiday. It never crossed my mind until yesterday to even buy candy, and even then I forgot - and it doesn’t even look like it’s made a difference. I just rent my horror movie (actually, I did that yesterday, and I didn’t rent, I bought 28 Weeks Later, awesome, but actually not a very good Halloween horror movie), I’d say eat a butt-load of candy, but thanks to Crohn’s I can’t even do that anymore. So basically I rent a movie and if I get around to it, carve a pumpkin (we actually did that this year, first time in the 5 years we’ve been here.

LATER:

But are any of my above reasons the real reason why we don’t get trick-or-treaters? Are there really less people trick-or-treating than when we were kids? Can I really blame the lackluster turnout on society? Unfortunately, no I cannot. As I was putting Liam down to sleep just now I heard (and saw as I passed the window) many children and parents out making the rounds, all of then blowing right by our house. And then it struck me…we have no porch light.

*sigh*