Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Are we the only people still just carving out jack-o-lanterns for Halloween?

My kids feel so deprived that we have no skeletons on the doors, no witches slammed into the trees, no tombstones, no giant spiderwebbs, no fog machine, and no severed limbs and skulls skattered on the lawn.

When did this all happen?

Remember when Halloween came and you didn't have a costume until the day of? And you had to make up your own costume? There was no Lillian Vernon $49.50 Mutant Ninja whatever...no, you were a gypsy! A ghost! Or, my personal favorite, a "bum". You took your pillow case off your bed and set off with your friends in a frenzy to collect candy.

And people used to give out real candy, too. Full size bars. None of this "fun" size. Where's the "fun" in one bite of a Snickers, I ask you? I guess everyone's economizing since they've spent all their cash on the same decorations that all the other neighbors have. The kids don't seem to notice the sameness of the "spooky" decor. They just know we're the only freaks in the neighborhood without it.