why i don't like halloween

The truth is, my reasons for not liking it are pretty banal. I just think it's too much candy (not that I don't love sugar, but I like it in manageable doses) and the scary thing drives me crazy. If people want to be scared, that's great--some people like it (I am not one of them) but I would prefer for it not to be so in your face. We went trick or treating with friends (sans a sick Caroline, but fear not, we still came home with enough candy for all three): one house scared both kids--Michael refused to walk up; another house both visited, but Elanor was so obviously afraid that the owner took pity and loaded her with extra candy. I don't want to whine, but is it really necessary to scare small children? The nice thing about haunted houses is that you have to pay to go into one, so only those of us who actually want to be scared will go.

On the other hand, Garrison Keillor made a telling point about Halloween on "A Prairie Home Companion" which I heard a couple of weeks ago. It was in the midst of a Halloween story which involved people who had religious scruples about Halloween. That's not me, but I appreciated his point, which was (sorry, rough paraphrase) "I always thought it was better for good people to pretend to be evil than...." Point taken, thank you, Garrison.

Just finished up a nice visit with my dad, who was maybe at somewhat of a loss with no lawn to mow or household renovations to do. Instead he had to spend quite a lot of time reading to Michael (who is reading voraciously on his own but still loves to be read to). He also decided it was time to potty train Elanor (doing quite well, thank you). And I brought in a last minute furniture rearranging for him to help with. We also took him to Kidspace, a neat little museum in the Rose Bowl parking lot, as well as some beach near Malibu (Zuma Point or something like that). It was the kids' first sight of the Pacific and they loved it. No swimming due to the chilly water and the large waves (no, we don't get those in the Gulf), but it was a lot of fun. And he had his fill (as well as mine) of Halloween events--two Fall Festivals and trick or treating. It was certainly a fun visit!