I Heart Halloween

Actor Ben Stiller grew up with a Jewish dad and a Catholic mom, so the family had plenty of holidays to celebrate. He says they were all in favor of any tradition that involved fun and/or food.

While I try to honor the deeper meaning in holidays, to a certain extent I share Stiller's philosophy, too. I suppose that's one reason I love Halloween: an excuse to indulge my inner child with costumes and lots of candy.

And let's face it, the blogger in me loves all the photo ops.

Daniel: "Mom, did you say this thing is edible?"

Daniel practicing the "Spooky Story Stance"

Here we have a flower and a bumblebee trick-or-treating with a bunny rabbit and . . . a mad scientist. Um, yeah. I would vow to coordinate us better next year, except I just know that Daniel will want to be a dinosaur and Joy will choose to be a fairy or something. Try connecting those dots.

The concept of trick-or-treating finally clicked for Joy this year. After the "trunk-or-treat" at church we hit up a few nearby houses then called it a night (after all, how many pounds of candy does a toddler really need?). Little does Joy know that the free candy fest actually continues long into the night. If you won't tell her, I won't tell her.

We were joined for the evening's festivities by our friends Tim and Krystal (who dressed as a nerd and cat lady, respectively). Ah Halloween--a splendid excuse to gather with loved ones, exercise a little creativity, and consume lots of sweets.