My Halloween

Produced by me and written by my Wife.

It can be the beginning of summer and I can be caught talking about my all time favorite holiday – Halloween.

Every year I look forward with anticipation for the beginning of September. Why? So that I can put my Halloween ideas into action – working on a new costume, updating my Halloween web site, and transforming my house for Halloween night.

Let me share my excitement of Halloween with you:

The leaves have changed color and are falling from the trees. There are piles of leaves in backyards or in front lawns. The sun is setting earlier every night and  the nights are getting chilly. It is harvest time so it is time to go apple and pumpkin picking. You look for the perfect pumpkin for making jack-o-lanterns on Hallow’s eve. There are corn stalk mazes to run through. You can close your eyes and breathe in that chilly Autumn air which is a mixture of fallen leaves and harvest pickings. It is a smell that you can easily recall if you have experience the season of Autumn.

Then as Halloween gets closer, you go on haunted hayrides and stand in line, clutching a cup of hot cocoa to warm your hands as you wait to go inside the haunted house attraction. You are shaking from a mixture of cold air and anticipation of what is to frighten you as you go inside. The ride home with friends is spent talking of the night’s event and everyone denying that they were scared.

Then there is Halloween night. I can remember going down Mt. Prospect Ave in Newark, NJ with my mom on Halloween night when I was a kid and just seeing the groups of trick or treaters. My Mom and other parents would take the chance to dress up as well. The fun wasn’t just for us kids. You could see all types of costumes – monsters running alongside ballerinas, cowboys next to clowns, witches and ghosts – all of them holding onto their home made candy bags (old pillow cases). Some kids would have their masks sitting on top of their head as they savored that first piece of Halloween candy. Then you would get home and dump your bag of treats on the table to divide up the candy into the stuff you like and stuff you didn’t like. There was always someone in the neighborhood who would give you a toothbrush or sugar free candy.

It was and is the best time of the year – It is the spirit of Halloween.