Halloween Scrooges

The kids that live in the apartment across from mine made some pumpkins for Halloween. They were those small pumpkins that you draw or paint on instead of carving them, and this way they can be turned around and used as a decoration until December. I never took much notice of them until today but there was something pretty silly about them: they drew a pumpkin on the pumpkin, instead of a face. They drew a stem, the outline, and though it doesn't show up so well in the picture, they drew lines to denote the pumpkininny texture. Although I laughed, it actually makes me sad how quickly and rapidly Halloween is changing, so many kids aren't allowed to actually carve a pumpkin, or they do all their trick or treating at a church or the zoo. When was it decided that all the Halloween festivities were so dangerous? I realize they can be, but they aren't any more dangerous now then they ever were. And any parent who keeps their children away from the good Halloween fun is only depriving their child of the fun they themselves enjoyed as children.