Halloween has gotten a bad rap over the years. It has been made out to be a night to worship the devil and a night when psychotic killers slide razor blades into apples. So what if there's a razor blade in my apple! Back in my trick-or-treating days that would have been considered a challenge. Who could eat the razor blade laden apple without getting cut. We'd have made a game out of it.

Come on folks, it's mostly urban legend and less about the devil than about kids getting to enjoy a night of collecting FREE candy in clothing you'd never let them wear to school on any other day. Let's let the kids enjoy the tradition like we did when we were young.

I remember walking block after block in Enid, Oklahoma, stepping over cracked sidewalks and running up a big flight of stairs just so I could cross a creaky, old wooden porch for a single orange or black wrapped piece of taffy. I remember people jumping out at me and my heart racing a million miles an hour. Those were the houses you kept firmly planted in your mind so you could return to the next year and be frightened all over again.

Trick-or-Treating in your own neighborhoods used to be so much fun. Seeing a block or two with every porch light on brought instant sugar shock to your system and you had to run way ahead of your parents so you didn't miss out on a full size Snicker Bar or caramel popcorn ball. You knew the old coot handing you a Tootsie Roll because you had knocked on his door the weekend before and ran for the bushes before he came outside. He knew you were the kid that had pushed his doorbell but all was forgiven for this one night because it was a time to speak to your neighbors and a time to let kids enjoy their youth.

I remember my best buddy and I building a haunted maze in his garage on west Broadway every Halloween. We spent weeks building it, taping it and filling it full of plastic rats, smooshy eyeballs and dangling things. That's what made Halloween great. Watching the terrorized kids run for their lives was something to behold. It was our tradition and it's a time I'll never forget.

Let's not lose the traditions of Halloween and spend our entire evening away from our neighborhoods. Spend some time downtown, at the mall or at your church. But then hurry home and bring a smile to the little old lady down the street that bought five bags of candy just so she could see a cute little ladybug come to her door and say, Trick-or-Treat!