Halloween Time

It’s a bag of candy filled with bubble gum that smells like cocoa and mini chocolate bars that taste a little like bubble gum. It’s pumpkin seeds that may have been cooked too long but you eat them anyway because no one really knows the exact recipe. It’s admiring Cristy’s mad pumpkin carving skills. It’s candy corn for those of us who love candy corn (more for me if you don’t.) It’s the smell of crunchy leaves and the last lawn clippings of the year. It’s planning on buying articles of clothing for this year’s costume that would never be part of your normal wardrobe. It’s memories of Halloween parades and candy trades with old Anchorage School friends. It’s admiring my friends and family’s costume creativity. It’s scary movie marathons with my favorite girl. It’s decorations that remind me of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, which remind me of the Haunted Mansion, the Headless Horseman, and Trick or Treating in the Magic Kingdom. It’s realizing that I am old enough to Trick or Treat again with nieces and nephews and also that I am past the point of pretending that drunken adult Halloween parties could possibly replace the joy of collecting candy from strangers for hours on end. It’s sweatshirts for football and warm drinks that smell like cinnamon. It’s my favorite time of the year.