A Halloween Meme with a Holiday Theme

I decided to do my own meme--feel free to take it if you like!

1. What's your favorite Solstice or Equinox? Summer solstice. Is there anything more magical?

2. What was your best Halloween costume? My aunt, who worked in theater, borrowed an amazing fairy costume for me from a production of Midsummer Night's Dream. It had enormous metal-frame wings dripping with green gauze, and I kept slamming people with them.

3. What's your favorite kind of candy? Penguin bars. English, and hard to find in the states. Runner up, Brazilian Pudding Pocky.

4. What was your scariest Halloween experience? In the early '80s, I, my mom, and my sis had to take shelter at a random house as a gigantic gang of teens armed with pipes and chains ran screaming through the neighborhood. I'm serious as a heart attack.

5. Do you like to be the go-to house for treats, or are you a faithful curmudgeon? I love to give out treats--to a point. When the teens without costumes begin to show up as it gets darker and later, well, that's when I put on the curmudgeon mask.

6. Do you, like my dad, think trick-or-treating is a little like begging? Well, yes, in a way. But sanctioned, socially acceptable begging. Plus, you're giving a choice. Trick or treat!

7. How many fillings do you have in your teeth? Many.

8. Ever dressed up for Halloween as an adult? What was the costume? Not really, but I plan to wear elf ears tonight to keep Hedgie company.

9. What did you hate to get in your candy bucket as a child? Hands down, pennies. Old worn pennies. Please.

10. Do you like to be scared (I mean, not by a robber with a gun to your head, but by horror movies or haunted house rides)? I LOVE to be scared in a fun way. LOVE it. Horror movies, scary books, haunted houses. I think it makes you feel sort of cozy.

11. What's your favorite horror movie? Halloween. Best ever, still. Love that '70s vibe.

12. Do you think bobbing for apples is unsanitary, or all in good fun? I think it's akin to putting your child's face in a virus-filled petri dish. I cannot believe my mom let me do it.

following questions courtesy of Hedgehog, answers mine:

13. What's your favorite spook (ie, ghost, vampire, werewolf, etc.) Ah, vampires. NC-17 version.

14. Have you ever had a trick played on you? What was it? No, but I'm still waiting!

15. What was your favorite neighborhood you've gone trick-or-treating in? My grandma's neighborhood in Long Island. Totally awesome, totally suburban. What a haul. That year we got to go back to Brooklyn and trick or treat AGAIN.

Back to my questions:

16. Did you ever dress up in one of those icky '70s store-bought costumes with the plastic masks that both suffocated you and cut into your delicate child-like skin? Of course. I'm an American child of the '70s, aren't I? But only one year, and I was a princess with a home-made hat to go on top.

17. If you're a parent, home-made or store-bought costumes for your children? Home-made. Hedgehog and I become obsessed. But I never judge the store-bought.

18. Do you dress your pets and/or babies up for Halloween? Never dressed dog or baby, as neither baby Hedgie nor Pippin would ever stand for it. But I always admire the dogs in costume, especially the indignant-looking mutts. And the babies dressed as pea pods.

19. Would you steal your child's candy? No, I can buy my own. Unless I'm desperate.

20. Do you see Halloween as the harbinger of the impending doom-laden holiday season? Yes.