Another Halloween has come and gone. Kids will be more wired than usual, adults will be more hungover than usual. For myself, Halloween has never really been a big thing in my life. It's not because I don't enjoy the costumes, the bad horror movies, the drinking (especially not that), but rather because I am one of the rare few who never really wanted to go Trick-or-Treating or stock up on free candy as a child. In fact, I distinctly remember that the only times I ever really have gone door to door in a goofy costume was simply to hang out with friends and enjoy the social setting rather than actually having a goal of filling an entire pillowcase with candy. Now that I am older, that social activity has certainly transferred into replacing candy with beer, but the feeling is still the same. When I think back, my favorite parts of Halloween as a child were going to my grandparents house (who I have always affectionately referred to as Nana and Papa since before I could even fully talk), ordering pizza, and watching movies while my older brother and his friends would go out to get their candy fix.

Now, while I understand this may make me seem as though I was a loner, that's not the case. I just simply enjoyed Halloween in a different way than most others do, which to this day I am perfectly content with. And, being that my mom has always been a borderline masterful seamstress, my brother and I never had any desire to buy costumes as our mom would simply make us anything that we wanted to go as. So of course I had Halloween spirit, but my Halloween spirit did not come from a preconceived anticipation of eating candy until I felt sick, but rather the anticipation of getting to stay in with my loving grandparents and eating good food rather than going out into the bitter cold of Alaska where most of the time we would have to wear large winter coats over our costumes anyway.

When I think about it, I remember the last time I went Trick-or-Treating was a few years ago during my Freshman year of college in Alaska following a Halloween party where a friend and I had gone as "valley folk" (a common term to refer to the Alaskan rednecks most of you see daily on the Discovery Channel and MTV) complete with mullets, camo hats, mustaches, and hand cut jean shorts and jean vests. Suffice it to say, not the most comfortable things to be wearing when the first severe blizzard of the year comes midway through walking door to door to get candy. Did we almost get frostbite? Sure did. Was it worth it for the story? Absolutely. To digress, everyone has their own interpretations of Halloween and I'm quite sure that most people have plenty of funny stories that they themselves could tell in which they would have the exact same mentality as I have when referring to my "redneck Halloween."

I guess my closing point is that Halloween is different for everyone, and while I am one of the rare few who doesn't actually like candy, Halloween is still one of my favorite holidays thanks to my loving family and friends, especially the ones who agreed to keep Trick-or-Treating during that horribly timed onset of Alaskan winter (Jack, Jeff, Alex, Henry, Sam, and especially Taylor, my "redneck brother" I am talking to you).