Halloween (very late entry)!

Just let me start this blog off by saying that this holiday entry is very late, but I felt I should get it done either way. Anyway, I think that one of my favorite holidays is Halloween. When I talk to most people, they usually say their favorite holiday is Christmas and wonder how mine could be Halloween when it's completely oriented around children that dress up and collect candy. But, I've had to disagree with them on their point. Of course ever since I was little, I would always celebrate Halloween. My sister and I would always dress up and go out collecting candy with our mother. But, in our house it was and is still considered a sin to where a costume that was bought from a store. Our mother always makes our costumes. Up until four or five years ago, we always lived in an apartment, so my mother did what she could to hang up Halloween decorations on the windows outside. After awhile, my sister and I got to the point where we weren't young enough, by other people's standards, to go trick-or-treating. That didn't stop our family from continuing to celebrate the holiday. Once we bought our house, my mother started going all out. Every year since then, she's bought impressive amounts of Halloween decorations, along with typical large bags of different kinds of fabrics and fastenings to make many costumes. She's go to Halloween Express and other stores buying skeletons, chopped heads, limbs, eye balls, bugs, crawling spiders, masks, pitchforks, lots of fake blood, spider webs, tons of lights, etc. She bought up EVERYTHING. I'm surprised the employees don't recognize her every year and get excited knowing that they're going to make a large profit from one tiny lady. And, I just know that when this time of year comes around my father dreads the amounts of money she spends on one night of the year. He's tried different tactics to pull her away from Halloween stores, but I think he gave up a long time ago. Two years ago she bought some wet cement and made her own tombstones. She's also made her own tombs but after they kept breaking, she bought one large, wooden tomb-like box. She likes to make my cousins or father lie in it and jump out. She's even had my guy friends and one boyfriend come help her out by dressing them up and making then scare the crap out of kids. She also buys pounds of candy. It's truely amazing the amount of effort my small mother goes into making one night of the year better than the last. The most amazing thing of all is the TONS of costumes she's made over the years. My sister and I have been a spider, skunks, a rat, witches, princesses riding on unicorns,jesters, bellie dancers, moulin rouge girls, gypsies, and much more. And of course, my mother never fails to dress herself up. Some of the people in my family look at her like she's nuts and a child. But, that's what I love about my mother. She's 38, but she's fun and makes a seemingly, child-oriented holiday into a day we'll never forget. With a mom who does all that work for one day, how can you not think this holiday is the best one ever?