Every now and then the question "What's your favorite holiday?" will come up in conversation, so maybe I'll answer for myself here.

Halloween is by far my favorite holiday. I used to take a certain rebellious pleasure in saying so, aware that some folks remain convinced Halloween is Satan's holiday or something. Why they'd give Satan any ground at all, I'll never know. Halloween's just fun, for pete's sake. I've always liked scary stuff like monsters, ghosts, haunted houses, and all that business. And who doesn't like candy?

Many people seem to make the entire month of December a Christmas holiday. Hey, I like Christmas, too. I just happen to prefer Halloween, so the entire month of October for me is Halloween.

October's when I pull out my gothic novels, such as "Dracula" and "Frankenstein," and movies such as "IT," "Sleepy Hollow" or "The Birds." A couple of nights ago, I saw "The Others" starring Nicole Kidman. Now that was a great gothic film. I think gothic is different from horror, but that's another discussion. "The Others" reminded me in some ways of "The Sixth Sense," in that it's dark and suspenseful without being horrifying or gory or in the least bit sexual ... unlike most horror films. One movie that will freak you out long after you watch it is "Final Destination." "The Butterfly Effect" is also a fun one for Halloween.

Gina and I have Halloween traditions like normal people have Christmas traditions. I'm sure after we're married, we'll be normal, too, and have Christmas traditions, but we're talking about Halloween here. She decorates her apartment with Halloween stuff (she's semi-normal, because she also decorates for Christmas with Christmas stuff - I, however, am fine with enjoying a holiday without having to put up and take down decorations, so I'm not normal in the least). We watch gothic movies, Halloween episodes of our favorite TV shows, and make Halloween desserts to ruin our teeth -- not just on Halloween, but periodically throughout the month. Our sense of the abnormal does, however, limit itself to dressing up only the one night of the year.

Is anybody else weird like we are? What do you guys do for Halloween? Do you do the same things every year, or try something different?