A full harvest moon, perhaps with some light wispy clouds around it, just always  seemed to be "right" for Halloween night.  Unfortunately, the moon seems to go through its astrological phases totally without regard for Halloween .  But when we do get a spooky full moon it adds an extra bit of delight to the night. 

     Hil always laughingly accuses me of going "a little overboard" with my Halloween decorations and I proudly proclaim myself guilty as charged in that respect.  I enjoy decorating the house for Halloween as much as I do for Christmas (click for images of Halloweens past).  In our old neighborhood most of our neighbors didn't do much decorating for Halloween and ours was the only one with much more than a pumpkin for decoration and each year I try to have something that's a little different and the neighborhood kids all came by to see what I came up with each year. 

     In early October of 2005 we moved to another neighborhood about 10 miles from our old house so I had to start all over developing a basic plan for the decorations and figuring out which decorations looked best where.  That first year I noticed that, as the days ticked by and it got closer and closer to Halloween, there were only a couple houses with any Halloween decorations around the neighborhood but I put some of ours out anyway. 

     The fall edition of our neighborhood newsletter came out in early November and as I skimmed through it I was surprised to find that our Halloween decorations were featured in it.  In 2006, I noticed more neighbors putting Halloween decorations out and our house was again featured in the fall neighborhood newsletter.  Each year since, more and more neighbors have been putting decorations out for Halloween and I'm excited to see what happens this year.

     Frequently, I dress up in some sort of costume to meet the neighborhood kids at the door, hand out candy, and chat with the parents for a couple minutes.  In our neighborhood, there are a lot of young families with little ones.  The parents always accompany the kids while trick-or-treating and I think that's a smart thing to do.  It keeps the kids safe, gives the adults a chance to do a little socializing, and also keeps the mischief to a reasonable level.

At left above is my 2006 Halloween Costume; you can see more of it in the 2006 pages).  Since it was a bit intense, I took it off after the photo and didn't put it back on until after the littlest kids had finished trick or treating so as to not frighten them. 

At right above is me with my grandson on Halloween 2008.  As with 2006 and 2007, I didn't put it on until after the little ones were done.

''It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'' | 14155__charlie_lEvery year ABC has aired the Halloween special "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."  It's a cute animated cartoon with Charles Schultz' cartoon Peanuts gang and it usually airs at 8:00 P.M. one evening during the week leading up to Halloween; normally a Tuesday through Thursday.  Unlike many television shows these days, it's suitable for all ages.  When our kids were young, they couldn't wait for it to come on TV each year.  Now the grandkids also eagerly await it each year and I finally went out and bought it on DVD so, in the event we happen to miss the broadcast, all is not lost!