BOO!

I remember the dark night, the leaves rustling, the screams and all the scary music coming form the neighbor's garages. I remember the massive amounts of people. The kids running up and down the streets seeing who could fill their bag the fastest with candy. It was a time when staying out till midnight in the dark ringing on stranger's doorbells was okay. It was the holiday to look forward to. Costumes and Snickers, what's not to love? But it seems it's all changed. This year, no one was out trick-or-treating. The streets were quiet and dead and the few kids that we came across seemed to be feeling the same way we were, like Halloween just wasn't what it used to be. The tradition is dying. Years earlier, kids would rush to doors. It didn't matter if we didn't know each other, we were all in it together for the prize. The best candy! This year as we hustled to each door, two kids behind us in Toy Story costumes were told to "wait for the kids in front of them to get the candy." No!!!! That's not how it's supposed to be. Every kid is supposed to be shoving eachother out of the way to get the the single Midnight Milkyway in the bottom of the bucket. They should all be screaming in unison, "Trick-or-Treat!" Halloween seems to have been changed into a civilized evening of gift giving instead of the chaotic free for all meant for kids to just be kids. But why has Halloween changed over the years?

Parents are just plain scared. The kids I babysit for down the street told me they were frightened to go trick-or-treating because their PARENTS had told them that people poison the candy they hand out to children. It all seems so strange to me. When I went trick or treating with my 11 year old friends "back in the day", there was a house with a sweet, old lady that we trucked up 5 streets just to go to her door. Every year she welcomed us inside and offered us a choice of hot apple cider or hot cocoa. Sometimes if we were lucky, we got dinner. Parents today, would be appalled by the thought of letting their own children walk into the home of a stranger. But what happened to old fashioned trust? Not every one is out to kill a child or kidnap someone. There are actually people who just like being hospitable to kids who come to their doorstep wrapped in winter coats and holding a plastic pumpkin. Sure, Halloween can be viewed as a dangerous holiday. A bunch of kids walking around in the dead of night talking to people they don't know, but thats the beauty of it. Halloween is a time when everyone should be reminded of the good in people and love the dedication of the old man down the street who hands out candy EVERY SINGLE year even though he can barely walk to the door.

I encourage everyone to relive the wonderful days when kids counted down the seconds till Halloween. When skipping down the street in an R2-D2 costume was totally awesome! When strangers were the best things in the world. When Snickers weren't poisoned but filled with creamy caramel. Let's remember that people value tradition and if the stranger on the next block didn't kidnap your kid last year he probably won't this year. Halloween is a night of laughs and screaming, candy and popcorn. A night when parents trust that their children are somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere getting candy. Its an evening of freaking amazingness! Don't ruin that. Embrace it.