Halloween is a Horrible Holiday

Yes, I'm going there.  And I'm coming right out and saying it, too.  I've begun to hate Halloween.  I'm not sure what genius thought it would be a good idea to celebrate spookiness and create a day where being scared is supposed to be fun, but I think they ought to be taken out back and saddled with a whole passel-full of preschoolers who are terrified to walk past houses because they've been decorated with ghosts for Halloween.

I can't say I've ever really been one to enjoy being scared.  Horror movies have never been my thing.  I don't watch violent shows while Tim is gone because it makes me too creeped out at night.  And as much as it drives me crazy that Reuben seems to have this pathological fear of the dark, deep down, part of me totally gets where he's coming from.

So forgive me if I don't get all excited about having a whole day out of the year devoted to scary things like witches, ghosts, and vampires.

Don't get me wrong.  The whole concept of everyone handing out candy to any child who knocks on their door is actually an interesting study in generosity.  As a kid, I loved going out and getting my annual haul of chips, chocolates, and random candies.

But I think the world is starting to overdo it a little.  Houses are being decorated weeks in advance with cobwebs, ghosts, tombstones, skeletons, and other things designed to frighten.  For the last week or so, every time I turn on the television for the kids, they are being bombarded with spooky shows, talk of costumes, and commercials advertising said spooky shows.  And thank heavens I didn't take them to Canadian Tire with me last week because the displays they had up of all the decorations they have for sale were enough to make me hurry along and get to a safe department, like housewares.

Reuben keeps walking around yelling "Boo", trying to do anything he can to scare me.  Kaylee covers her eyes and says "Scary" every time she sees a house with a ghost on it.  (For the record, I did not teach her that.)  Both of them have learned to avert their eyes when we pass certain neighborhoods because I've told them I don't want them looking at houses who, in my humble opinion, have just gone completely overboard and will likely give my kids nightmares if they stare too long and look too hard at the various decorations littering those lawns.  (Go figure, one particular house is right beside a stoplight that without fail, we always have to stop for.)

I'm all for handing out candy to kids, but why are we trying to scare them in the process?  Since when is it fun to create fear in little children?  And why in the heck are we spending weeks out of the year preparing for this annoying at best holiday?

Curse commercialism, curse consumerism, and curse the boneheads who think it's a good idea to make scary fun. 

Because it's not.

(Sorry, that got rant-ish at the end.  Can you tell I'm sick of Halloween and SO ready for it to be over?)