The Great Pumpkin

Today is the 40th anniversary of The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, one of my favorite Charlie Brown shows. Linus' unwavering faith in the mythical Great Pumpkin and Sally's tenuous love for Linus have the two of them missing out on Halloween only to be visited by none other than Snoopy as the Red Barron. Poor Charlie Brown goes trick-or-treating and gets a rock instead of candy and Lucy accidentally kisses Snoopy and gets "dog germs." Top-notch entertainment in my book.

One of the reasons why I enjoy this show so much is because I simply love Halloween. I look forward to giving out candy every year and seeing the kids dressed up. Their excitement is infectious. Unfortunately, I'll be missing this ritual this year because I'll be in L.A. for a criminology conference. I wasn't looking forward to this conference to begin with and the fact that it has ruined Halloween for me doesn't improve my attitude about it. Luckily I still have a few days left to finish up my presentation and adjust my attitude.