You know it's Halloween when ...


... Christmas decorations start appearing in the stores.

...The whole house smells like the cheap Halloween candy your brothers and sisters bring home.

...pumpkins appear in every grocery store .

... house windows are full of skeletons, witches, black cats, and ghosts .

...you're on a diet and your mother brings home three bags of candy.

...the pre‑schoolers are haunting the halls.

...three invitations arrive for a costume party and you don't have a costume.

...Spiderman, Superman, and Batman multiply by the thousands.

...when you hear the crinkles of candy wrappers in the night .

...you hear "Mom, I have a stomach-ache."

...when your little brothers and sisters hide around corners and jump out at you‑then claim they are practicing to be ghosts .

...Linus looks for the Great Pumpkin.

...the pumpkin you spend three hours carving is now smashed on your front porch.

...when you need peace and quiet and all the doorbell does is ring.

...when the supply of toilet paper and eggs begins to dwindle at the stores.