it was a dark and stormy night....

Dear Pops,

The Kid just asked me if I liked Halloween when I was a kid. While I'm tempted to give the stranger danger, check your candy talk, I can't help but be reminded of Halloweens past. I don't really remember what costumes we wore as much as I remember the ridiculous enormous hauls of candy and being allowed to stay up way way way way way past my bedtime.

We would trick or treat the neighbours, our street (both sides), the next street and the next. When our pillowcases were too full to carry we'd head home, dump them out on the living room floor for the candy check. You would check to make sure we had enough then encourage us to hit the streets again or get in the car so you could drive us to another neighbourhood!

We would stay up late sorting our candy into Mom's biggest roasting pans, one for the chocolate, one for the Twizzlers and Rockets and one for chips and other salty snacks. It wasn't long before we were covered in empty wrappers and calling it a night. Our friends parents used to keep the candy in the cupboard high over the fridge, ours was not only kept out but over the next couple of days more candy would show up, you hit the 75% off post-Halloween sales (you did the same at Easter too).

We enjoyed our candy as much as we enjoyed scary stuff. We loved Stephen King books, you kept trying to get me to read in a cemetery! We loved spooky movies and ghost stories, you always told me they were true and you'd hide behind the couch to give me a good scare in case the movie didn't traumatize me enough! Nothing was ever too scary for me to watch, Freddy, Jason, Norman Bates, well actually they were too scary but you'd let me watch anyway. This is likely why, when the Kid asked me what Psycho was about I told him, "it's about a creepy motel run by Norman Bates, people check in but they don't check out". Then I tucked him in, said goodnight and turned out the light. Parents, here's a tip, if your kids ever ask what Psycho is about, LIE! Tell them it's about rainbows and cotton candy, the Kid was in my bed for next three nights!

I don't like scary movies anymore. I think the last one I watched was The Ring. I watched it on TV with commercials and the lights on, how scary can that be? I kicked my ass that night. I went to bed talking to myself, out loud, giving myself hell for watching that movie, "I could have lived a long and happy life never having seen The Ring!"

Scared Shrekless and Garfield's Halloween is as scary as it gets in our house this year and no, I don't hide behind the couch and yell "Boo"!

Love Poops