Halloween Memories

I'm a Halloween hater.

There, I said it.

While many of you are pulling together the final touches to your Halloween costumes this week, I'm patiently waiting for this holiday to pass. I enjoy the fall season and decorating my house with pumpkins and wreaths but make no mistake, you'll find no giant blow-up spiders and fake cobwebs in my yard - oh no!

Halloween and I have never agreed, even when I was a little girl. Listen to these traumatic memories - oh the scorn of my youth!

• Once when I was in elementary school, we painted our pumpkins instead of carving. We decorated their faces and made pigtails out of yarn. Mine looked just like my Cabbage Patch Doll; I was so proud of my work. A few days later, we came home to find our pumpkin splattered in the street in front of our house. I cried until there were no more tears left. How mean can neighbor boys really be?
• Every Halloween, my family went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, then met all my cousins at my grandparents house. We'd go downstairs and dump all of our candy into this giant coffee table bowl. Despite my mom's warnings as she yelled down the stairs, I'd always eat way too much candy. And every year I'd throw up on the car ride home. My poor mother...
• One time we came home from my grandparents and our dog had vomited all over the living room. Apparently my parents left a bowl of candy on the steps and he helped himself to the lot. That was an extra fun year for my mom.
• One year in Middle School, I fractured my foot a few days before Halloween and was forced to wear a "boot" with my Gypsy outfit. Not cool at all. I still laugh at those photos - I looked ridiculous.
• My sister loves Halloween and every year my mom would help her pick out a cute little costume. Once she was a bubble bee; another time, a cheerleader. And every year as we were putting on our costumes she'd proclaim: "I want to be a DEAD cheerleader!" "I want to be a DEAD bubble bee!" So my dad would break out his old face-painting stuff and give her just what she asked for ... blood and death all over the face of his five year old.

Maybe it'll be different some day when I have a little munchkin of my own to dress up in cute little costumes. My friend Ellie believes every kid is cuter in costume. She vows to dress up her future kiddos every chance she gets and I can't argue that fact. The little Superman I saw out shopping yesterday made me smile.

This little trip down memory lane has made me realize Halloween's not all that bad. Looking forward to having my own little gremlin someday and starting our family traditions.