Halloween, Almost Dead

Except for the incestuous Star Wars family!

I thought they looked pretty cool.

Five days later, my kids have scarcely even asked for their candy.

And why would they? They eat a mountain of junk food on a regular basis. I generally have to scream at them to *eat your pizza...* or *eat your hot dog if you want to have ice cream*.

What happened to notorious brussel sprouts? And what happened to those disgusting canned lima beans from my childhood? We were lucky if we ever even got dessert; and when we did, it was Jello!

So Halloween for me and my siblings/peers, 25-30 years ago....that was a veritable gold rush. Hit as many houses as you can; and circle back to the *good ones*.

Last year, although admittedly I did turn every light in the house off, and crouched down while I read my book with a tiny flashlight...I didn't get a single trick-or-treater.

I was at my crazy parents' house this year, and they too were hardly bothered by confection-seeking brats - despite living in a densely populated neighborhood.

It's just the Moms and Dads, and lots of neighborhood old ladies that still get annually geeked up to see the little ones in costumes. I know one mother who got a Star Wars outfit custom-built for her son - because not one of the thousands of commercially available ones would suffice. Also, one buddy sat his four-year old down and lectured her on *the hierarchy of candy* before trick-or-treating. He stack-ranked Milky Ways, Snickers, M&Ms, and Skittles so that his daughter would know what to pull out of a varied selection.

I myself, as usual, skipped the trick-or-treating, but Mrs. C-Nut informed me that at one house:

Mrs. C-Nut - She(the 4 year old girl) turned around to her father, held up the piece of candy she pulled and asked, "Is this okay, Dad?"

Of course, the side benefit of Halloween being passé....is the pile of empty candy wrappers in front of me right now!

I used to rob the good stuff (Nestle Crunch, Mounds, etc.) from my sister's *hidden* pumpkins every single year. So from that standpoint, not much has changed.

On a separate note...

You know, some Christians don't even let their kids celebrate Halloween. I'd never even thought about this before until recently - when I saw it proclaimed on a homeschooling blog. But this question comes right up on Google:

Is Halloween A Pagan Holiday?

Hmmmm....well, it's definitely celebrated by Pagan Pet-Worshippers!