Viewpoint: This witch prefers a merry, scary Halloween

By the time you read this, there will be only a matter of hours until my Halloween crunch time.

Maybe it was because I was born with a twin and on our dad's birthday in early December that contributed to my choosing Halloween as one of my favorite days.

It may sound selfish, but I never had a day specifically for me; the majority of the time, I let my sister decide or compromised with her on what we would do to celebrate.

Maybe it was because I have always loved horror films and books for the gory scenes. Either way, I love Halloween.

Halloween is a day I have always found entertaining and fun and maintain a mental countdown for, and it wasn't just because of the free candy.

In my house, we celebrated pretty much every holiday, but for some reason Halloween was the one celebration that stuck out for me. Maybe it has something to do with the chill and windy fall weather, the scary movies on TV and the hype from the community, but there was always something that started me planning for the next year by the end of Halloween night.

My siblings and I participated when it came to carving the pumpkin and decorating the house.

My parents always had to cut the pumpkin for us, but as soon as that stemmed crown was removed, it turned into a mini party with my brother and sister at my side dying to get our hands dirty scooping out the seeds.

Sometimes, we'd carve a vampire, but usually, we carved a smirking face, placed a candle in the center and set it in front of a window for the world to see.

From that one pumpkin sitting by the window, I have grown to love painting faces and designs on smaller ones and placing those on the dining room table.

Within the past five years, more or less, I have invested an easy $60 on those pumpkins and have multiple plastic pumpkins and several actual pumpkins.

We never had much lighting around the apartment, but it worked out, providing an eerie feel inside while cobwebs along with black and orange paper chains filled the ceiling's empty spots.

There was always one rubber bat that hung on the stairwell between the first and second floors that, somehow, was stolen almost every year. It was pretty much my family's signature that the Halloween season had begun.

The opportunity to scare people with my homemade witch costumes contributed to my love of Halloween.

Recently, the children in my neighborhood have proved to take a lot more to scare than what I found scary when I was younger.

By about middle school, I had to decide if I was too old for dress up or join the other half of the population and continue with my Halloween spirit.

Needless to say, Halloween continued to be my favorite holiday.

Since then, I have gone through stages of defining what, to me, is scary, and how to portray that at home and in costume.

When I dress up for whatever Halloween event I attend, I like to keep my costume versatile.

There is family evidence of me dressed up as a princess, but for the majority of my childhood, I was a witch of some sort.

Today, I think I inspired my peers with my Halloween fascination.

One of them said that he thinks about Halloween more because they can look to me for ideas on how to decorate. Another said she is more aware of Halloween merchandise and now considers her costume before it's too late to get one.

Even my Dad, not the biggest fan of decapitated heads hanging from the carport, contributes to how to make the house look more haunted.

Then there's my costume to consider. You won't catch me checking out the princess, fairy or bumblebee costumes unless someone else is going to wear them.

I prefer a scary Halloween. I decorate my house to complement my costume for a fuller effect for the children who come trick or treating in hopes that they will continue their fascination with the culture of Halloween.