Halloween cometh...

Do you remember the first time you celebrated Halloween?

I do.

I was in college and dressed up as a wishing troll. It was huge fun. That one night almost made up for all the previous Halloweens missed.

Halloween was one of my favorite holidays growing up as a JW. Of course nobody knew that. I couldn't admit that. Good JW children don't celebrate Satan. But there I was.

Our family sometimes went over to other Witness houses on that dreadful night. Or if we stayed at home, we'd black out all the windows, turn off all the lights, and hide in the darkness of the living room watching the "Anne of Green Gables" marathon on PBS. Each time someone knocked on the door wanting candy, we could almost feel Satan and his demons on the doorstep. Very scary stuff.

Not one to shy away from a challenge, though, I would sometimes sneak off and try to give sweets to the few brave children who approached our darkened abode. Ever try to dispense loose chocolate chip cookie mix through a mail slot? Dad also had a ready supply of Certs in the bookbag he took to the Hall, so those went out the mail slot, too.

Part of me expected to see my classmates possessed by demons the next day at school. Or perhaps their mouths would be lacerated with all the razors they unwittingly bit into, hidden by some sociopath in a Charleston Chew. Or maybe they wouldn't be at school at all. Perhaps they were dead from the poisoned candy apples. Thank Jehovah I wouldn't know that sort of pain. But no. Never did happen, not once in all the Halloweens I was protected from. No, they'd come to school with backpacks filled to the hilt with every sweet imaginable. My mouth is watering now just remembering it.

Sometimes someone would give me a piece. Plagued with guilt I'd partake. Each crunch and chew was a bite into Jehovah's heart, breaking over the fact I was enjoying something acquired on the most evil of holidays. This was surely a slippery slope. The Tootsie Roll had become my gateway drug.

I love Halloween. My birthday comes right before it, and Thanksgiving and Christmas come shortly thereafter. I wish it were eight days long like Hanukkah! I don't get into dressing up so much. And I will never touch another Ouija board, not after what happened many years ago (maybe the JWs were right about that one). But I love the candy. I love the witches, goblins, ghosts and ghouls. I love the Jack-o-lanterns. I love "Hocus Pocus" with Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Its just a magical time of year.

Can you feel it?