It's Halloween... It's Halloween...

When I was a kid, Halloween was the big day/night I got excited for. Aside from Christmas and my birthday, of course, where there were presents. But Halloween was filled with mystery, scary things. Black and orange and white; fluttering bats wings, and the loud rustle of dried leaves underfoot.

At some point, in my teens Halloween had to become something more. I became too old to trick-or-treat, so, I began dressing up and giving out treats. But I went to extremes with the decorations. I recall buying that scary sounds tape, and running that through an open window. I had a "hanged man" up in a bedroom with a light on him. There was one Halloween--when I was much older--I got my brother and nephews to help out. One of them got to be the "dummy" who sat by the door. With a mask, hooded sweatshirt and gloves on, he draped his hand over the railing right by the door. I instructed him to stay still until they knocked on the door, and then just slowly turn his hand. Ohhh, the screams from the little tykes! I loved it! I made hand-dipped caramel apples or some home made thing. They had to earn their treat. Many loved that I could scare them, and then there were those too frightened to approach.

That's how I liked Halloween. Just a little scary. Not over-done horror with the chainsaw thing, and severed limbs in the yard. Although I did do some headstones and buried my other nephews in the leaves and make noises whenever the tricker-treaters came by.

Back then, you couldn't buy a goblin or ghoul from your local store. Now they have Halloween stores with maniacal butlers and witches spouting all sorts of gruesome stuff. I had also made my own bat that appeared to fly.

What do you like about Halloween, or what do you do to haunt it up for the day's festivities? Go ahead and tell me in the comments area. Love to hear from you!