Mrs. Halloween Scrooge

Once upon a time, there was a Halloween Scrooge. The untrained eye would never peg her as such for she loved candy and, as we all know, Halloween is a big holiday for the sweets; she had 4 children who seemed to have as much jolly fun as they wished to have; she loved going to pumpkin patches to select festive pumpkins; and she even smiled brightly when the neighborhood children knocked on her door for candy.

But deep, deep down inside, she was not a big fan of Halloween, and with each passing year, any enthusiasm she had for the day waned even more.

The evil in Mrs. Halloween Scrooge always surfaced first when it came time to buy costumes. "These silly things cost way too much," she would complain as loudly as possible at the store so that all customers might have the opportunity to ponder her astute observations. No matter what her children wanted to be for Halloween, she would try her very best to talk them into wanting to be whatever was cheapest.

This year, Mrs. Halloween Scrooge and her family were in the Arctic for Halloween, and this made the price of costumes anger her even more. If the costumes were to be hidden under coats and mittens and scarves and hats, really, what was the point? She even suggested to her oldest trick-or-treater that she skip the costume and wear regular clothes under her coat. Who would know? Surely she would get candy anyway.

While Mrs. Halloween Scrooge enjoyed hunting for and selecting the Halloween pumpkin, the carving of the pumpkin was another holiday element which brought the evil out of the old woman. The guts were stringy, stinky, and slimy, and carving hurt her poor, arthritic hands. This year, she had the children simply paint their little pumpkins.

Then, of course, there was the matter of the candy. Like costumes, candy is far too overpriced, and she complained bitterly about buying bags of it. Of course, she did not complain about the candy her children brought home in their buckets and often, after the lights were out and the children tucked snugly in their beds, she would sneak into the kitchen and steal candy from her own children's buckets.

Mrs. Halloween Scrooge was clearly in the wrong for this violation, especially considering that, this year since they were in the Arctic, she made her husband take the children out trick-or-treating. "It's too cold out there," she whined as she shooed the children and the husband out the door while she stood in the warm, cozy house in her soft, cozy bedroom slippers.

Of course the one thing that made Mrs. Halloween Scrooge smile in spite of all of her evil was seeing how cute her children looked all dressed up, their anticipation bubbling over into their twinkling eyes and big grins.

And even as Mrs. Halloween Scrooge sits in her warm, cozy house, her feet enveloped in her soft, cozy slippers, and ponders what the dentist is going to say at tomorrow's appointment, she can't help being just a little bit excited for the children and the husband to come back home. Once they're home, the children will inevitably spend some time sorting their candy, trading it back and forth, and of course begging for "just one more piece. Pleeeeeaaase?"