Saturday, October 31, 2015

Halloween by Julie Mulhern


 I love Halloween.

Truly, I love it.

It is the perfect holiday. No big meal to fix or digest. Instead, a pot of chili simmers on the stove. Gifts? Bags of bite-sized candy bars, opened and shared with all comers. Stress? Practically non-existent.

When my children were little, a groups of dads would escort our crew of princesses, goblins and Jedi knights around the neighborhood. The moms stayed home to pass out candy. The reality? We drank wine.

Show me another holiday where men do the lion’s share of the work.

As I said, the perfect holiday.
Add to that the inexplicable fact that my children don’t like Snickers. I do. When they emptied their pillow cases I was waiting. While they traded for Milky Ways and Kit Kats, I collected Snickers.


Now that they’ve outgrown trick or treating, I buy my own. Don’t bother asking, I’m not sharing.

This year, there’s a Halloween mystery rattling around my brain. I’m thinking about a haunted house (the kind with fake zombies, scary people with chain saws, and lines of screaming teens), an all too real corpse, and an unfortunate amateur sleuth who has an uncanny knack for finding bodies. There will also be Snickers bars. I am going to start writing it as soon I complete the draft for my third Country Club Murders mystery.

So, this Halloween, I wish you pots of chili, happy children, plenty of wine, and lots of Snickers bars. If you don’t like Snickers, you know who’ll take them.

Julie Mulhern is the USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders. She is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean--and she's got an active imagination. Truth is--she's an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions. 

                                                              

7 comments:

  1. I declined to attend a concert tonight to stay home and enjoy the kiddies. I'll never tire of Halloween.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing on WWK. I'm looking forward to seeing the little ones in costume tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I always enjoyed Halloween, too, but now my children are grown, I'm no longer teaching, and I live on a small farm where there are no children who go trick or treating on our rather busy road. Instead, their parents take them to neighborhood with houses close together and sidewalks or to Halloween events at churches. When my children were young and went out trick or treating, I wanted their Reese's peanut butter cups, and when I still had little ones who came in later years, I gave out the peanut butter cups so I could eat any of the leftovers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Soon the chili will be on the stove. Looking forward to a hearty dinner, wine and snickers tonight! To all the Writers Who Kill, thanks so much for hosting me today--Happy Halloween!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The only problem I had with Halloween was having my children return with lots of candy, especially Snickers bars, and I would indulge, much to the detriment of my waistline. As the children in our community grew older, we had fewer and fewer Trick or Treaters coming to the door, and we would be left with lots of candy. More on my waistline. I blame all my weight gain over the past few years on Halloween!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I agree, Julie. Halloween is just a fun holiday for kids. There isn't any agenda or cause, jut good old fashion fun. I love to see the little ones in their costumes. I have to admit though--racing to the door all night can be a bit tiresome, but when I get near the end of my candy bowl, I turn off the porch light--my signal we are done for the night. This year I got Snickers, Peanut Butter Snickers, Twix, and Oh Henry bars ( I hadn't seen them in years. My daughter didn't know what they were--so I'll also educate those little chocoholics in the neighborhood!). Thanks for blogging, Julie. Congratulations on the contract for three more books.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy Halloween, Julie! I'll give you my Snickers - just don't take my Milky Ways!
    thank you for stopping by WWK!

    ReplyDelete