Halloween.

Apparently, Halloween is a HUGE deal in our cute little town. It now makes perfect sense that our zip code ends in "666." Our street doesn't just trick-or-treat. It's like trick-or-treating on crack. The entire street shuts down on Halloween night. The church on our street hosted a trunk-or-treat and had games and food for everyone. A house on the end of the street turned into a haunted house. The next door neighbors turned their front lawn into a graveyard.

And then, there's my landlords. The ones who made balloon animals their first year on the street. The ones who turned their house into an insane asylum last year, complete with Dad in a straight jacket which he "busted out of throughout the night to chase kids with a chainsaw."  The ones who went went ALL OUT for the occasion this year. The ones who hosted a CARNEVIL.

There was a carnival tent that Dad made outside next to the driveway. A skull toss game, a tightrope to walk, a strength hammer game, a bulls-eye for knife throwing, a fortune teller, cotton candy with spiders all over it, popcorn with rats, and much more. Of course, the biggest attraction of all -- the clown head entrance!

I had been watching for the last few weeks as Dad made different pieces of the carnevil and could not figure out what was happening. Finally, I got home from work before dark a couple weeks ago and he was outside working on the bulls-eye so I had to stop and chit-chat about what the yard was turning into. Of course, last night I got to see the transformation happen and it was really almost unbelievable. The amount of money they must have spent on this Halloween extravaganza blows.my.mind. He told me they always spends upwards of $300 on CANDY alone. t h r e e h u n d r e d d o l l a r s o n c a n d y. Y'all, I cannot. I guess I know where my rent went last month!

For Halloween my family never did anything more than dressing up like Bible characters at the Hallelujah party down at the church. Because Christian folk don't celebrate Halloween, ya know, so it had to be a Hallelujah party. I remember the TWO times in my life that I actually went trick-or-treating. And one of those times I got in trouble for it! My mother told my aunt not to take us, but Aunt J dressed my sister and I up and took us to beg for some candy anyway! Given my Halloween, or "Hallelujah," background, it makes sense that I don't understand the hype of the holiday. I have no desire to walk around town trying to figure out if I know the person under the costume, mask, or make up and I never will.

But, I am making it my mission to reside in this crazy town for another year so I can find out what shenanigans The Family comes up with next Halloween! The anticipation is already killing me.