Saltzgaver

addicted children. (And some adults — I buy the kind of candy I'll eat and hope no kids show up.)

I have good memories of trick-or-treating in the early 1960s. We'd use pillow cases as sacks and run from door to door to cover as much territory as possible. Ten-year-olds can run for a long time when properly motivated.

But I have to be honest and say I'm not much of a Halloween fan. I can count on one hand the number of times I've worn a costume since I became a semi-adult.

That apparently is going to be an issue at Sunstone. They go all out here for Halloween. I think it's supposed to be a teambuilding thing.

The co-worker I work most closely with, Jennifer, the marketing director, is already excited. She was measuring office walls today to see what decorations she could put up. Sigh.

I'm used to it though. I've noted before that my lovely wife, Maria, is a decorating fiend. Her specialty is Christmas, but Halloween is getting plenty of attention these days.

We're not talking blowup ghosts or witches wrapped around trees. Skulls and skeletons are passe. (There is a pretty amazing 12-foot-tall standing skeleton the next block over, though.)

Maria goes in for the handcrafted decorations — she makes them herself. The big item these days is painting pumpkins.

No, she doesn't paint the actual gourds. These are plastic pumpkins found in the craft stores, where they treat Halloween decorations much like the grocery stores treat Halloween candy — out really early and very expensive, at least until Nov. 1.

Our porch already features stacked pumpkins creating Jack Skellington and Sally from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” as well as Mickey and Minnie Mouse in costume. The project this year is a whole passel of M&Ms come to life.

These are just the centerpieces. There will be lots of other Halloweenish decorations. Again, nothing like Christmas, but we won't be missed when the Great Pumpkin comes around.

Apparently, this passion runs in the family. Maria's sister Dorothy even got married on Halloween, and their whole house is filled with Halloween stuff this time of year.

Then there's television. You know all about the emphasis on reality shows. They jump into Halloween with both feet — pumpkin carving, bloody baking, you name it. Some of those pumpkin carvers are truly talented.

I guess I can understand society's urge to let go with a little harmless fun (stressing harmless here), and it certainly seems like more folks are indulging in the season, at least from what I see on the streets of Long Beach.

I'll admit to enjoying the creative decorations I see, and there are plenty. I'm less impressed with the commercial pieces (again, like Christmas), but at least an effort is made.

Bottom line, I can think of worse things people could be obsessing over. So enjoy.

Does Happy Halloween make sense?