MARK MY WORD: HALLOWEEN'S TIME FOR TREATS AND SMELLY FEET

Hooray for Halloween.

You've got to like a holiday that lets your kids show their true colors.

Some people view Halloween as just another commercial holiday; a way to keep costume companies in business.

But I don't view it that way. After all, it's not often that you can run around with your head cut off without sending your family into hysterics.

I realize that Halloween is over and Turkey Day is fast approaching. But all you pilgrims will just have to be patient.

I'm not done with Halloween yet. For one thing, there's all that candy that my daughters garnered as they went door to door Friday evening dressed as witches.

Becca, 5, and Bailey, nearly 2, think it's wonderful to be a witch. They wore matching witches outfits.

In those outfits, they aren't the least bit spooky.

In fact, they can look downright angelic on Halloween. But then maybe it's just the sugar high from all that chocolate.

Trick-or-treating is the main Halloween activity for Americans outside of Detroit. Up there, they revel in rioting.

But for the rest of us, Halloween is a time when we can walk around wearing Marv Albert masks.

Youngsters dress in costumes and go door to door saying: "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat."

I don't know of any adults that will take children up on this foot-smelling offer, but the kids still come away with the candy.

Just the thought of smelly feet is enough to get most neighbors to fork over the candy, which will eventually rot the teeth of all those little devils.

People once believed that ghosts roamed the land on Halloween. Now, they know they just roam the schools at all those Halloween parties.

Halloween dates back to Celtic days when Boston had a winning basketball team.

During the Celtic era, there were Druids. They were fire-crazed people who loved to burn just about everything in site. Back then, arson wasn't a crime.

During a fiery celebration, people sometimes wore costumes and masks of former President Richard Nixon.

The Romans conquered Europe in A.D. 43 and decided that what everyone needed was another party.

That's one thing you have to admire about the Romans. These guys knew how to party.

Halloween celebrations didn't become popular in the U.S. until the 1800s when parents insisted that the public schools hold Halloween parties.

You have to like a school that allows children to dress up like goblins and ghouls and all manner of dinosaurs.

Becca got to dress up as a witch and parade around with all the other little monsters at her elementary school last week.

One kindergarten teacher walked around in a plump, orange pumpkin suit.

My wife, Joni, along with a number of other parents, showed up at the elementary school to help with the Halloween festivities.

Joni and I helped kindergarteners get into their costumes.

You haven't lived until you've tried to get a bathroom full of boys into their Spider Man and dinosaur costumes, and not lose their regular clothes in the process.

Of course, there are some who think that Halloween should be banned from our schools as an unnecessary distraction.

But I disagree. There's nothing like a super hero costume to give a kid self esteem.

Sometimes it pays to dress up.

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.