Halloween. The time of year where people dress up in costumes and have viable excuses to knock on their grumpy neighbors’ doors, no matter what night it falls on. Monday, Wednesday, 6:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m., you name it, and most of the time, someone is going to be there to hand you a candy bar. It’s that time again, considering October 31 is coming in a few weeks, and I have mixed feelings, as usual.

Our fixation with this holiday is kind of weird, considering that in any other circumstance, walking to all the houses on your street and practically demanding for them to give you food would be considered socially inappropriate. Besides that, it’s so dark that you can’t see anyone except for the kids that came dressed up as ghosts.

I used to get a lot more excited about Halloween when I was younger, probably due to the fact that it was celebrated so much in elementary school. Honestly, who wouldn’t be excited about parties with orange and black cupcakes, jack-o-lantern napkins and themed party games? I’ve probably played way too much pumpkin bowling for my own good.

The shift in the way people view Halloween is interesting as they grow older — it’s much less common to see high schoolers trick-or-treating, especially on weeknights, when they’re most likely doing homework. Or studying. Or trying to figure out how to work a graphing calculator.

I know that’s what I’m going to be doing this year, considering Halloween falls on a Monday. I’m probably going to be relegated to the task of refilling the candy bowl while the rest of my family goes out and gets jumbo-sized candy bars from our generous neighbors.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not that much of a “Scrooge” at Halloween, but that might only be because I have a soft spot for themed desserts. I told myself last year that I wouldn’t do anything Halloween related, mostly due to homework and my lack of excitement about trick-or-treating. I ended up going to a family friend’s party anyway, although the sole purpose of that adventure was to eat their orange-black cupcakes. As for this year, who knows, I might actually end up dressing up if I really get into the spirit of things.

If you see a large (and probably grumpy) pumpkin walking around Los Altos in a couple of weeks, don’t forget to wave.