Happy Halloween!

Moderation is better than muscle, self-control better than political power. Proverbs 16:32 (The Message)

Oh, my stomach hurts. It’s a good thing we fall back in time tonight. It will take at least an hour for the antacids I just took to start working. It’s Halloween and a day of poor choices with food. I have never been able to figure out why we tell our kids all year long not to take candy from strangers, but then, send them out to go up to unfamiliar houses and threaten strangers with tricks if they don’t give them candy. Why do we temporarily lose our minds one day a year? I lost my mind tonight at the fall festival at our church. It has been years since we bought our kids costumes and dressed them up for the fall festival. We never did trick or treating, not only for the reason mentioned above, but because the houses in our neighborhood are so spread apart, it doesn’t make any sense. In fact, every year the weekend before Halloween, all the parents banded together to host a hayride when all the children went together house to house to trick or treat. That was unique. You only had to answer the door once, but then, you had a hundred kids outside! There were always fall festivals at school and at church, so there were plenty of opportunities to wear costumes, play games and gather up candy. Sometimes, we would go to several in one day. I still have some of their best costumes in storage. The turtle with ping pong ball eyes, the race car driver suit, the ninja and the zombie. Costumes for kids have gotten more sophisticated these days. Tonight, while we helped man booths at our church’s fall festival I saw dozens of bumble bees, dragons, Dorothys, Disney princesses and firemen. Most were store bought though there were a few homemade ones. I like it when kids use their imaginations and create something themselves. Between volunteer stints, I munched on candy, baked goods and the best kettle corn I have ever had. Kettle corn is one of my all time favorite foods. I cannot resist it. The people who were making the kettle corn had just the right mix of salty and sweet. I ended up buying a large bag which I am still working on finishing. After the festival was over and everything put away, a group of us went out for Mexican food. That put me over the edge. Now, my stomach is rebelling. I’ll get over it, but tomorrow I had better be more careful. Halloween is the launch of the holiday eating binge and it would be a good idea if I came up with some kind of plan to moderate how much I eat of those special once a year goodies. Some people say the best exercise routine is the one where you push away from the table. I could do with some self control. But, I think I will finish off the kettle corn and Peanut Butter Cups first.