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<\/a>Halloween and Christmas cohabitating<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n Halloween is quickly approaching and at the risk of sounding like a grumpy old person,<\/strong> it seems like the holiday has gotten much too complicated – and expensive.\u00a0 The National Retailers Association estimates that more than $10.3 billion will be spent on the Halloween season this year.\u00a0 Yes, somewhere along the line Halloween has gone from a holiday to a season<\/em><\/strong>. At my local Target the part of the store that hasn\u2019t already been turned into a Christmas wonderland is dedicated to over-the-top Halloween display<\/strong>s.\u00a0 There are strings of lights to put on the house, special Halloween gift bags and toys, a Pin the Tail on the Cat game and aisle after aisle of decorations and party favors.<\/p>\n My best friend Leslie and <\/b>I<\/b><\/span> dressed as ?????<\/b><\/p><\/div>\n Halloween costumes used to be cobbled together from things found around the house \u2013 a sheet with holes in it for a ghost or towels pinned around the neck for a Superman cape.\u00a0 If you were really lucky you had a grandparent with a glass eye<\/strong> so you could borrow their patch for a pirate costume.\u00a0 The occasional kid bought a plastic mask at the five and dime but that was thought to be phony and close to cheating.\u00a0 The fun of Halloween was using our imagination\u00a0<\/em>to come up with the cleverest costume.\u00a0 We proudly marched in our school parades and vied for the prize for best costume.\u00a0\u00a0 Yep \u2013 they gave out one award.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t get a ribbon just for participating. On Halloween night, we were let loose in the neighborhood with a battle plan that would have made an Army general proud<\/strong>.\u00a0 We plotted out which houses to avoid \u2013 those that gave out hard candy or fruit \u2013 and which to hit first.\u00a0 The lady around the corner was always our starting point because she made delicious popcorn balls.\u00a0 Then we progressed to the homes that dished out divinity, brownies, and fudge.\u00a0 We never gave a thought about eating food that had been prepared by someone we didn\u2019t know<\/strong>.\u00a0 The majority of treats we collected on Halloween were home-made, lovingly wrapped up in waxed paper or aluminum foil, and they were scrumptious.<\/p>\n But the real change over the decades is that many kids no longer trick-or-treat<\/strong>.\u00a0 Now the trend is to have home parties.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0I know that there are risks to roaming the neighborhood and that the world is full of scary people, but I still find it sad that kids miss the fun of going house to house.\u00a0 Because no matter how great the favors are from Target, it can\u2019t be as much fun as plotting routes,<\/strong> knocking on strangers\u2019 doors and being rewarded with popcorn balls.<\/p>\n Nothing better than sneaking a Snickers bar<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n I live in a community that is mostly comprised of older people and I miss seeing young kids come around each year.\u00a0 I miss asking them about their costumes<\/strong> and providing the appropriate response when they twirl in their princess dress or growl in their werewolf mask.\u00a0 I still buy Snickers bars each Halloween in hopes that someone will come by, but inevitably they end up in my freezer.\u00a0 I’ve discovered that frozen Snickers bars are really good with coffee<\/strong>. Consequently, my post-Halloween ritual is to spend extra time at the gym.\u00a0 Halloween \u2013 and my metabolism \u2013 are both different these days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson Halloween is quickly approaching and at the risk of sounding like a grumpy old person, it seems like the holiday has gotten much too complicated – and expensive.\u00a0 The National Retailers Association estimates that more than … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Suz-and-Leslie-Halloween-300x196.jpg\")
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<\/a>Adults are increasingly participating in this holiday that was once the domain of children.\u00a0 I suppose we should have seen this coming.\u00a0 People are in need of an escape<\/strong> these days.\u00a0 What better way to suppress your anger about politics, the economy, and the state of the world than to dress up like Barbie or Spiderman<\/strong>?\u00a0 Still, it seems like this should be a holiday for children, not another excuse for mom and dad to dress up and act goofy.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/eating-halloween-candy.jpg\")
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