Halloween's around the corner everyone, and you know what that means...

A blog post!

When I was little, I think Halloween was my favorite holiday. I mean, Christmas was a close second, and so were birthdays...but really, it wasn't til I got older that it really became less fun. And I think that's probably due to our move. And growing up of course.
When I lived in Evanston, from 2nd grade on, I went trick-or-treating at another friends' house. This friend was fortunate to live right on the border between Wilmette and Evanston, Wilmette being another suburb of Chicago, but a lot richer. It's true that if we were to take all the suburbs of Chicago and rank them based on "niceness" (i.e., wealth), Wilmette would come in second-to-last¹ - right in front of Evanston - but still. Wilmette was nice.
So me and some other friends would go over, and we'd trick-or-treat with her and her siblings (there were three). And it was dark and the houses were all lit up and decorated, and they actually gave out pretty good candy. And then we'd go back to her house and sort our candy (that was, and still is, my favorite part of Halloween) and trade. That was the only time having an allergy came in handy - if I've never had a Reese's and the smell of them is actually kind of repulsive to me, then I have no problem get rid of it. You have no idea how many candy bars I couldn't eat², with the result that I had got an enormous amount of normal Hershey's chocolate bars, which I can eat.
And then we moved here, and you know, I don't think it's so bad now, but it did mean that that first year I had no one to trick-or-treat with. And in the years after, it was cold, or I went with someone not-so-great, and then I was too old, and suddenly Christmas was more exciting.
This year's my last year trick-or-treating. I know a lot of people have probably already stopped going - I'm sure a lot stopped by 8th grade. But I love this holiday, and I want this one last time to say goodbye.

(Of course, it's not a forever goodbye - as soon as I have kids they're trick-or-treating. And when I'm old, my house is going to be amazing. And of course, til then there's Halloween parties.)




¹ Actually, it might be third-to-last, because of Skokie...I don't know, I don't know all the suburbs that well.
² No, seriously, guess how many. Try and list them all - not just candy bars, but candy in general.
Done?

Reese's
Payday
100 Grand
Twix
3 Musketeers
KitKat
Snickers
Hershey's with almonds
Almond Joy
Heath bar
Mr. Goodbar
Baby Ruth (Am I the only one who didn't know that's what they're really named? I always thought they were Babe Ruths.)
Butterfingers
Milky Way
Crunch
Mars bar
M & M's - both kinds
How'd you do?