Five Things That Scared Me Today on Halloween

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Somehow I forgot to record this classic tonight to watch with the kids...Dang it!

Today is the big day.  I can't believe that we finally made it.  And as one (or maybe three) wise blogger(s) said, I can't wait for it to end!  After donning my costume for Pumpkinman, the ward "trunk-or-treat", and now Halloween, I'm ready to retire it.

Waldo is ready to retire!

One thing that I did notice and made me happy was that my kids seemed really unselfish this year.  Last night at the Trunk-or-Treat, S. was passing out his candy to everyone that he could find and he was genuinely happy about it.  Tonight, E. came home early from trick-or-treating and was so excited to hand out candy to the neighborhood kids who came to trick-or-treat.

And finally, as I walked to my car tonight in some other neighborhood, some random kids came up to me and were really excited to give me some Halloween candy.  Bless their little hearts!  Anyway, seeing such unselfish, good-hearted acts of kindness and generosity made my holiday this year.

But it wouldn't be Halloween without a few scary surprises, so here are my top five things that scared me today:


#5 - M. (My son) - Yes, he is the cutest little baby pumpkin that you've ever seen.  He also managed to slime me pretty good before I could even get out of bed this morning.  Then he was leaking as I left for the office.  Sure, it could have been much worse, but it was a heck of a way to start off the day!  I'll never know how one cute little guy can have so much liquid inside!

#4 - Driving - I had to drive around a little tonight to try and find (and keep up) with my kids as they made the rounds trick or treating.  There were kids everywhere!  And they didn't seem to care that I was driving or not.  And they certainly were not following their parents to look both ways before they crossed the street.  Heck, they were strolling right down the middle of the street!  This was definitely a night that called for both hands on the steering wheel and both eyes on the road!

I want candy!

#3 - Candy - The thought of all that candy in my house makes me nervous.  Heaven knows the last thing that I need to eat more of is candy.  Usually, I'm pretty good, but occasionally I'll go on these binges were I think that Skittles, Almond Joy, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are actually on the Food Pyramid somewhere!

This promotion gave me a fright tonight...

#2 - Lines - A colleague of mine told me that Chipotle was offering $2 burritos if you showed up in costume.  I really don't know any sane person that would don a costume just to score some free food.  ;-)  Against my better judgment, however, I decided to swing by because I may well be losing my mind since I was already in a costume and I was hungry.

As I drove past the restaurant, however, I could see that the line inside insane and the restaurant was total Thunder Dome as people clamored for their cheap "Boo-ritos."  I decided that a $2 burrito wasn't worth a 2 hour wait in line!  Instead, I pulled into Jack in the Box for some of their tasty tacos (2 for 99 cents!!) and a yummy pumpkin pie shake!

Hurricane Sandy

#1 - The Thought of Halloween Lasting One.More.Day - I heard on the radio today that one of the governors on the East Coast signed an executive order moving Halloween to November 5th this year due to the after-effects of Hurricane Sandy.  Thankfully, we don't have hurricanes here on the Left Coast!  And frankly, I'm glad this [pagan] holiday is over and I don't have to think about candy or costumes or trick-or-treating for another year!