What's So Great About Halloween?

Well, there's the candy, for one thing.

Here are some other great things about Halloween:

It's not that often you can bump into witches, ghouls, zombies and ghosts while riding the bus or walking down the street.

Going to the homes of complete strangers. They welcome you, but that's not even the whole story. They even give you the aforementioned candy.

Dressing up and pretending to be someone or something else.

Talking to a guy who jumps out of a coffin. He doesn't actually talk back.

He's dead.

That's why he's in the coffin. (Try to keep up, ok?)

It's also why he's such a great listener.

But, he DOES give you the aforementioned candy.

Two of my kids were born in October. I love the crisp, clean, cool autumn air.

The nurses put up little Halloween stickers and clings on the nursery glass windows. There were baby witches, baby zombies, baby ghosts, baby black kittens, baby monsters of all sorts.

I really loved that. It gave me a new lease on life. I sometimes had problems with post-partum depression.

Democracy

Going to a blue-collar, working-class neighborhood where everybody lives in a house.

(Apartment complexes can keep their dag-blasted "community room" party.)

On Halloween, everybody's equal.

We're all dressed up in something weird. We're all out in the dark streets at night--- kids, parents, babies, even old folks like me. I like to piggyback off the kids and grandkids, but some nice folks even give me my own candy anyway.

Saves me the trouble of stealing from the kids.

{Note: This capsule is from Halloween of 2010.}

Getting ready to meet the rest of the family. My new grandson's first Halloween, since he as born on Easter Sunday. He's a dragon tonight.

BOOOOOOO! Or, shall I say, "Grrrr " --- breathing fire.

Plus, now he is no longer my NEW grandson, as he has a younger brother --- equally scary, though.

Or maybe even SCARIER!!

If you don't believe me, look below:

Perhaps that will convince you??

Have you ever seen anything scarier in your life?

If you're wondering how they got to BE SO SCARY --- just watch the video below.

This is how they have learned to scare the daylights out of all who cross their paths.Two pumpkins and a butternut squash are their mentors --- and singing coaches.

No wonder they're scary.

Does anyone remember back when folks gave out homemade candy and cookies on Halloween? Those were my favorites.

That was before the great "razor blade in apple and banana " scare of ---- was it 1972 or '73?

Back in the early '70's --- one of the last years before the scare --- I made homemade gumdrops from the Joy of Cooking recipe and gave those out, along with some homemade Rice Krispies treats. Wrapping everything in Saran Wrap was kind of a hassle. Saran Wrap stuck all over the place.

The Trick-or-Treaters liked them, and it was fun giving those out. My son was just born, so he was too little to go Trick-or-Treating. He's one of those born in October, as I state above. My main regret that year was that I didn't have any of those treats left over for myself.

But, I felt good about "eliminating the middle man" by making my own. Besides, as I said, the homemade treats had been my own childhood favorites. I wanted to keep the tradition alive.

Here is a link to a recipe for homemade gumdrops. It seems about the same as the one I used back in 1971, for Halloween.

The Grim Reaper is the most democratic guy of all.

Halloween reminds us of this important consideration.

We receive a similar reminder on Ash Wednesday when we get ashes on our foreheads: "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return."

Some folks seem to feel that Halloween is anti-Christian.

Halloween is pre-Christian.

It was the Great Harvest, when all the crops had to be picked and stored for the winter. It was like the death of the sun.

The sun would be reborn at the winter solstice, when days became longer.

The Church of Rome designated this as the day we celebrate Our Lord's Nativity, because of course, Our Lord is the true "Sun King". Our Blessed Lord is also the true Lord of the Great Harvest. That's why Holy Mother Church placed All Saints Day and All Souls Day right after Halloween --- All Hallow's Evening.

But, nobody knows when Our Lord was really born.

Folks have different theories, though. They're all pretty interesting.