I love Halloween.  Always have.  It’s my favorite holiday of the four celebrations that have made the 4th quarter my favorite. 

The first celebration is of course my birthday.  That was on the 10th of October.  As a kid my birthday party always had a Halloween theme.  Every year my mother would pull out the small plastic pumpkin cups to go with the orange colored frosting on the cupcakes.  Every child received a trick or treat bag full of candy as a thanks for attending.  I was a happy kid and I had a happy childhood.  Thanks Mom.

The second celebration of the quarter is Halloween.  The holiday would arrive just about the time the high from my birthday party would be winding down.  It would ramp the excitement back up.  Halloween meant wearing your costume to school and excitedly comparing them while planning the evenings neighborhood trick or treat attack plan with friends.  6:00 could not come soon enough. 

At 6:00 we were off.  No parents shadowing us around the neighborhood.  No checking of candy for drugs or razor blades.  This was a time when people were people and even though we practiced duck and cover drills in school (those evil Russians), you could trust your fellow American to be kind and caring to each other.  I recall one year going trick or treating as a baseball player, hitting all the houses in the neighborhood, and then returning home and changing into a football uniform with helmet and hitting the neighborhood a second time.  That was the best haul ever.  Let’s face it, we didn’t get candy except on birthdays and halloween, so you had to make the best of it.

The third celebration comes one month later, Thanksgiving.  I can recall always gathering as a family and eating Turkey and dressing made by Mom.  She would start the cooking the night before and then get up early the morning of Thanksgiving and complete the ensemble in time for us to eat around noon. Then it was time for football.  As a kid we would watch the first half of a football game and then all the kids would go out and play touch football in the backyard.  That tradition has altered somewhat.  Now we all loosen our belts, sit in front of the TV to watch the annual football game and fall asleep by half time. 

The fourth celebration is of course is Christmas.  Christmas excitement really started with the Sears Wishbook catalog.  That trigger would arrive sometime in October and add to the excitement (or maybe it was the Halloween sugar high) that made this time of year my favorite.   The time leading up to Christmas entailed making lists for Mom and occasionally sneaking into the parent’s closet looking for any new bags or packages.  The Christmas tree usually went up the weekend after Thanksgiving and every day we would check for any new gifts under the tree. 

A family tradition, I’m not sure why, was for us to open our gifts on Christmas Eve.  As long as I can remember this has always been the case.  I’ve never really asked why.  For my own family of boys and grandson, we open gifts that are given by family members on Christmas Eve and save the ones from Santa Claus for Christmas Morning.  That is the family tradition my wife and I follow.  By noon Christmas Day the excitement is over and by the following week the toys are either worn out or have become boring.  Such is life and we learn this early.

So Happy Halloween Eve!  Don’t be a Scrooge, hand out candy.  May your own candy bucket be overflowing.