One of my favorite seasons is coming up. Fall with its country fairs, crisp air, colorful leaves and of course Halloween.

Halloween has become the second largest celebration of year in America, after Christmas.
Each year Americans spend more and more on decorations, costumes, food, parties, candy even trips to celebrate this spooky, creepy time of year. This year spending on the holiday up 9 percent to $6.86 billion!

As soon as the back to school sales are over, store and vendors quickly sweep away the pencils and notepads and replace the aisles with orange and black motifs.

Personally I love the goofy, fun side of all the horror. Adams Family, The Munsters, the Haunted House Ride at Disney, Casper the Friendly Ghost and even the Haunted Mansion in Kennington, Prince Edward Island.

I don't like over the top fright fest where people jump out at you from the shadows and nearly give you a heart attack. That's a bit much.

Like Christmas, Halloween is best enjoyed through the eyes of a child and sometimes adults go over the top with the gore and scariness. Kids have vivid imaginations and it doesn't take much to scare them. Being told to watch out for strangers all the time and being told to go up to a strange monster in a mask and ask for candy is a lot for them to deal with!

Don't forget safety! Young kids often venture out trick or treating at dusk, usually when commuters are speeding home from work. The kids are not thinking about safety only the promise of sugary candy treats as they run from house to house.

Every year there are urban legends about evil people putting razor blades in apples or pins in candy. Most of these stories are just stories handed down from generation but its a good idea to have the kids wait until they get home from trick or treating before they start eating.

We always made it a game of sorting the candy haul. Making piles for Mom, Dad and kid. Its heartwarming to see the generosity from your child as he puts a prized candy in Mom's bowl because she likes Almond Joys.

We count up the candy and weight it for the enviable report to out of state grandparents.

We used to live in a town where the widest street in town was sealed off and became a huge block party. Most of the houses on the street went crazy with decorations and the whole island showed up on this one street. The town even took donations of candy to help out the people on the street keep up demand. I always felt bad for people on other streets because they probably didn't get any kids.

Growing up on Army bases once we gave out 400 pieces of candy. The houses were concentrated so kids from all around would flock to the Army housing area. It was a lot of fun seeing all the costumes.

Now we live in an upscale neighborhood and one of the well off people hosts a crazy over the top extravaganza. They decorate the house up to Hollywood standards with hired actors, props like old boats and witches feasts and give out a lunch bag sized candy bag to every kid. Its cool but perhaps a bit much.