When I go rating holidays, I have to say that Halloween is one of my all-time favorites. It’s not because I like super-scary stuff, though. I remember as a kid being a huge chicken, especially when it came to scary movies.

I had a panic attack while water skiing in Stockton Lake after seeing “Jaws.” I literally wet my pants with a group of friends at the movies in eighth grade while watching “Friday the 13th.” I had to sleep on my parents’ floor in a sleeping bag for a month after the “Halloween” movie, and during a Halloween party at my house where we were all watching scary movies, I sat in terror sucking on a cup. OK, during the whole movie I sucked on this cup and when the lights went back on, I had given my self a perfect circular hickey bruise around my mouth. Try living that down when you are a sophomore. To this day I still hate scary movies, so that’s not what I like about Halloween.

I’m not sure it is the costumes that are my favorite, either. It seems like when I was a kid if I dressed up like a ballerina in a skimpy costume it would be 32 degrees outside and spitting snow, and if I dressed up in a woolly dog costume it would be 80 degrees. I tried several years ago as an adult to dress up at work. My mom made me a very detailed, authentic looking Dorothy costume from “The Wizard of Oz.” The girls I worked with were the other characters. I stopped for gas on the way to work, totally looking the part of Dorothy — except for the fact that I was platinum blonde Dorothy — but I had the red shoes and everything else.

“Hey!” some dude pumping gas yells to me. “Are you the Swiss Miss Girl?”

“No”, I replied, “I’m Dorothy.”

“Huh”, he said looking puzzled, “I wouldn’t have guessed it.”

I got to work and joined a couple of my friends, dressed like the Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow. I remember my boss, old Ferrell Shuck, coming around the corner and saying, “My, my, a lion and a scarecrow, and look, Janie is Alice in Wonderland.” I haven’t dressed up since. So, no, wearing costumes isn’t my favorite part of Halloween, either.

So, what do I love about Halloween? I love that in Briarbrook I have a line of trick-or-treating kids every Halloween that goes back 20 feet. I particularly appreciate those who say thank you! I love hayrides and bonfires and roasting marshmallows and weenies on a stick. I love that my friend Janet Hackney and I have had a party for the girls in our daughters’ class every year where we do egg tosses, mummy wraps, bob for apples and eat Halloween food like my favorite, caramel apples.

This year we had a new awesome experience I would encourage you to take your family to check out. Pathways United Methodist Church has the coolest, kid friendly corn maze. You can log onto its Web site at www.pathwaysumc.com/cornmaze to check out an aerial picture and print off a $1-off coupon, making the cost $5 per person. We let the kids go through as we sat around a nice warm bonfire, and they had a blast.

My kids are not big chickens like me, so during Halloween time we have checked out for fun the “most haunted sights” in the Joplin area. We checked them out online and I went with friends Annie and Bahar and the girls to see sights like the old Jane Chin hospital and the famous Spook Light. I’ll have to check out that Spook Light thing again because we didn’t see a thing … but when another car’s headlights came over the hill we all screamed.

My kids love to decorate for Halloween, too. My dad had a rule when he got grandkids that they could have ANY pumpkin in the patch they wanted; they just had to be able to carry it themselves. My favorite pumpkins have been picked and Halloween pictures have been taken at Fredrickson’s Pumpkin Farm right off Pennell in Carl Junction. Talk about a cute place to take kids … the old barn, beautiful mums, acres of different pumpkins and hayrides truly offer a better experience than picking up a pumpkin at Wal-Mart.

No matter what traditions you set with your families, I hope everyone has a fun-filled, safe and happy Halloween.

Jane Drummond is a parent educator for the Carthage School District. Contact her at janedrummond@mchsi.com.