We never did trick or treating when I was growing up. We did celebrate Hallowe'en, just not by going door to door begging for candy; we went to the movies. Before you start pitying me, relax. I have wonderful memories of the Hallowe'ens of my childhood and the excitement and enthusiasm with which my brothers and I looked forward to the big day. When you're a single income family of seven, going to the actual movie theatre and not the drive in is a rare treat, and getting popcorn? From the concession stand? Unheard of. SO, while I may not be able to list off all the costumes I wore as a kid, I can tell you the exact date I saw Star Wars, E.T., and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Plus, my mom always bought us our own candy, so it really was win-win for us kids.

So I really don't have any sort of nostalgic commitment to the whole traditional Hallowe'en experience. And to be totally honest, the whole trick of treat thing makes me uncomfortable. I may be overthinking it, but I have a bit of a problem with the idea that 364 days of the year we teach our kids not to accept candy from strangers, and then one day we just suspend all the rules because, hey, why not?

Balanced against that though is The Ladies' excitement and anticipation. From the decorations to the television specials and of course the costumes and candy, they are all over Hallowe'en and since we don't actually live on Planet Zargon, it's not like they're not going to notice if we skip the festivities. I've made my peace with Hallowe'en over the years though--the desire to dress my daughter up in cute little outfits and show her off played a role. What can I say, I'm shallow. And the free candy didn't hurt either.

Tonight The Ladies will head out--dressed as Tracy Turnblad and Penny Pingleton, which is a whole other post--and knock on all the doors of the people we know between our apartment building and Grandma's house. Once we get there they'll take charge of the door duty in between cackling over their loot and gorging themselves on way too much candy.

I'm not sure they really believe that it's better than Christmas, but it's quite probably their second favourite holiday. When I think about how much they look forward to it, and how much they enjoy participating in it, I think it might be mine, too. Even if it doesn't mean time off school. For them I mean. There's no way I'm setting foot in a classroom tomorrow.