Halloween's approaching. My favorite holiday since, from what I hear, before I can remember.

When I was younger, it was largely due to The Birthday Factor. When one's birthday comes shortly after Halloween, it makes it nice and easy for the folks. When I was really young? Halloween-themed party. Give the kids a chance to dress up again and continue the practice of coupling sugar and costumes. And it's a step up, even - birthday cake instead of individually-wrapped pieces. Score.

The first such party thrown after the move to Vermont was the best. Second grade. I don't remember many of the details, but I was Cinderella (it's seems that even I had a Princess Complex, albeit briefly), in resplendent pink glory. I recall that Jess went as a bag of jelly beans (the balloons, a brilliant idea at first, became problematic when the boys started popping them and scaring the girls to death) and Andrew took the top prize by dressing as a bald eagle. I remember the costume vividly - surprising, since there's little else I remember with any form of clarity from second grade. I want to find the pictures my mother took of him to see how my memory stacks up against proven photographic evidence.

There were sleepovers in which my friends and I went to the Haunted House - and, during the first such excursion, I was scared so much that I cried - and then, as I grew older, the trips with groups of my girlfriends and the guys we either had crushes on or were dating. Happy birthday, V - let's go freak ourselves out and scream a lot.

Good times. So good, actually, that they were able to counteract the other aspects of Halloween that made me roll my eyes each year - namely, my duty as a member of the high school marching band to don something horrible to march in the freezing cold of the annual Halloween parade in a nearby city. There is photographic evidence of that, as well - and no, odds are slim that I'll ever dig those out to show others.

As I got hooked on theater in college, it made perfect sense to continue loving the holiday. We were training ourselves in the practice of, essentially, making every day Halloween - assuming new characters, wearing costumes and living other lives. And, on the actual holiday (or the closest weekend), donning costumes, drinking and flirting outrageously at college-sponsored dances. Flapper girl, Little Red Riding Hood (who looked more like a bar wench), cheerleader...You do the math.

This year, the random nature of the schedule - the holiday on a Monday, being out of town for the holiday weekend - means I'm probably not going to be able to don the costume I'd planned on, but I still find myself looking forward to seeing the kids wandering about - and I know I'm still going to be wishing people a happy holiday.

And I'll be sure to get a bit of a sugar rush.

Since I'll be out of the Internet's grasp this weekend (hello, North Shore...), let me be the first to with you guys and ghouls a very happy Halloween. Chatter at you on All Saint's Day...