IN MY LIFE- HALLOWEEN

It's Halloween, not exactly my favorite holiday, but here are my memories and thoughts anyway..

- There's a grass roots campaign going to move Halloween from October 31st. The idea is to celebrate Halloween every last Saturday in October. That way, kids don't have to worry about school the next day, and older people can attend parties and not worry about work. The traditionalists want to keep it on the 31st.

To me, it doesn't really matter, since Halloween is sort of meaningless in my life. Other holidays are similar- Easter, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, to name a few, in that they can be moved. I think it will stay on October 31st.

- 10 years ago today- on Halloween- the Phillies had their world championship parade. I remember it being a beautiful day. It seems so long ago now.

- As a kid, my favorite Halloween costumes were a hobo, a scarecrow and john Kennedy. Halloween was special for trick-or-treating at night, and Halloween parties at school.

Halloween always meant a break on the school year, a halfway mark between Labor Day and Thanksgiving break.  Still too far til Christmas, but Christmas commercials and  holiday music start to appear. The weather gets chilly and cold, it's usually windy, leaves are down after fall foliage is over. The nights seem darker, unless there is a full moon, which often hovers eerily over the landscape. Daylight Saving Time is about to end, which means even more gloomy nights ahead. Everything is shutting down from a long winter's nap.

- Like any kid, I had my favorite Halloween candy. Sometimes the candy didn't matter as long a sit was candy and not fruit, pennies or trinkets that were given out while trick-or-treating.

Reeses Peanut Butter Cups remain my favorite, along with M&Ms, Three Musketeers bars and Nestle Crunch. Other chocolates like Snickers or Milky Way was OK, along with Kit Kats and Hershey bars. Candy such as licorice, Mary Janes or candy corn were immediately sorted and tossed aside after returning home, without hesitation.

Little bags of popcorn or Fritos were acceptable, and a nice diversion from chocolate, but, if for only one night, chocolate ruled, leading often to bellyaches, cavities and pimples.

- Every year we had a Halloween parade thru Phoenixville, which was fun, seeing kids trudging the route, dragging their bags behind them, or families all dressed up together.

The day before, October 30, was Mischief  Night, which never made sense to  me. It was just a night that gave rowdy kids and adults an excuse to go out and damage property. Stupid.

Now, Halloween doesn't seem the same. Now shopping malls are offering trick-or-treating in the mall, a way to keep children off the streets - and in their stores. The rule of thumb for trick-or-treating was , if you don't see a porch light on, or house lights, don't knock. Plus now each town has a specific time-frame for when you can and can't go visiting the neighborhood.

More Halloween stores around. Seems like adults are getting into the holiday more, with costumes.and parties.

- Nothing better than to celebrate Halloween watching a scary movie- in the dark, late at night. The Exorcist was just about the scariest movie I've ever seen, but I'm old school when it comes to horror movies. It takes a lot to frighten me. I'm not into the blood and gore, like the old Halloween movies or Nightmare on Elm Street flicks.

To me, a really scary movie was the old Dracula, starring the creepy Bela Lugosi. I loved to watch the soap opera Dark Shadows while growing up. Newer movies like Alien scared the shit out of me.

I always enjoyed the Halloween specials on TV too, especially the Halloween episodes on weekly shows, like The Brady Bunch when I was growing up.

Other than "Monster Mash" I've never had any favorite Halloween songs. 'The Hollies' "Long Cool Woman" and Cliff Richard's "Devil Woman" were OK but not really specifically meant for Halloween. . I suppose one could make a decent play list of scary or Halloween-themed tunes.

All in all, Halloween is more of a landmark event every year on the calendar than a holiday. October 31st  always reminds me that the year is almost done, the weather is changing and the holidays ( my favorite time of the year) are just around the corner.