My mom called me the other day to tell me that she is no longer celebrating Halloween. Instead, she’ll say “Happy Autumn” when she passes out candy. She found religion a long time ago, so I’m not exactly sure why the recent renunciation of one of the most entertaining holidays of the year.  She tried to educate me with the history of devil worshipping and why schools no longer throw classroom costume parties -as told to her by one of her best friends. I used to debate Mom on topics with which we couldn’t agree, but it’s just easier to smile and nod. Out of all the cute little Trick-or-Treaters that showed up at my door on Halloween, I’d say only one, maybe, could have actually been possessed by the devil. This little parsimonious princess took 3 handfuls of candybars while I was distracted by her accomplice. I felt a little possessed myself as I snatched  them right back out of her plastic pumpkin. The edges are sharp on those things, by the way. Speaking of unfortunate events, we ran out of time at the office this year and we didn’t vote for the best costume, but I was prepared to vote for Chris Boylan. He was the invisible man. Literally. He took a vacation day. I was having trouble deciding on my second place vote. Dwight wore a red neck kerchief, electric blue shirt, white pants, and egg-shaped helmet as Speedracer, very creative. But it’s not everyday that one gets to see the boss donning white tights, so I think Kerry, as SpongeBob Squarepants, wins based on the humiliation factor. Third place is a sympathy vote for Jerry. He literally glued a long black beard and mustache on top of his own facial hair. He pranced around in his silk robe and long black wig as a macho Sumo dude. I’m betting he screamed “Kelly Clarkson!!” while ripping those things out later.  Libby was the playful Cat in the Hat and Shelli blended in nicely with her camouflage gear. Lindsay was a beautiful fair maiden, Teresa a black cat, Diana dressed in Goth, Holly wore her Pajamas (though she swears she didn’t sleep in them the previous night) and I was the first Mom of Hockey herself, Sarah Palin. Speaking of politics, I heard on TV that Obama and McCain masks were sold out this year and that polls show that whichever mask has the highest sales will traditionally indicate who will win the election. If that’s the case, Walgreen’s is still pushing for Hillary. Besides the politician masks, I really don’t see a connection between Halloween and evil…relax, Mom, that was a joke.