OK, this is very minor, but when did "Happy Halloween!" become a suitable greeting for our one dark holiday? I even saw it imprinted on a plastic skull goblet in the dollar store. What is happy about drinking out of a skull, faux or no?
It used to be that when the kids came to the door, they issued--if often unconvincingly--a threat: "Trick or treat". Now you are just as likely to open the door to a group of tutued ballerinas and an angelic chorus of "Happy Halloween!" Bah, humbug.
A word to the wise: I'll be checking, and if you put down that bat-shaped doormat with the "Happy Halloween" imprint, you may be subject to some good old fashioned tricks that'll wipe that grin off of your face. How would your house look dressed in toilet paper?