Next to Christmas, Halloween is by far my favorite holiday. Pumpkin carving, cooler weather, crafty decorations, costumes, and lots of chocolate is enough to put me under a spell. *Cue the Sanderson sisters*

Perhaps the best Halloween movie of all time, "Hocus Pocus" is a staple of any October season. Winifred, Mary, and Sarah have such humorous, wicked personalities with perfect one-liners that make for a fantastic movie. Every year I wait patiently for the ABC Family movie weekend, and then I'm hooked once again.

Yet despite how much I love the Sanderson sisters and Halloween, this time of year also sometimes seems to get a bad rep. Sure, some people's costumes are a little inappropriate or scary. And yes, the traffic does get terrible for trick-or-treaters. But if you play your cards right, Halloween might just be the chance to run amok that you've been looking for.

Now I, personally, am not one for horror. The scariest movie I've ever seen was probably the old "Evil Dead" from the 80s, and that's only because I watched the entire movie in my daddy's lap where we made fun of the special effects. Even then, I had to spy behind my hands over my eyes. That's not the kind of Halloween I'm talking about.

I'm meaning the good, old fashioned, let's-go-get-candy Halloween. The late night compilation of baskets in the middle of the living room floor, Halloween. The Halloween where my brothers and I used to ride in the back of my daddy's pick-up truck through our neighborhood before jumping out to run up front porches.

Just as any other holiday, Halloween is what you make it to be. Too often people blow it out of proportion, generalize it, as trouble. They don't allow their children to participate because they call it sacrilege. But to me?