It's quite possible she loves it more than Christmas

Imagine walking up the drive to someones house.  The house is illuminated in the night with all kinds of twinkly lights, animatronic characters, music and a great deal of 'spirit' put into the decorations.  Now snap out of it and realize it's not a Christmas display.  Nope, it's my mother-in-law's house on Halloween. And that description fails to include the inside of the house.  Yes, my mil LOVES her some Halloween decorations (have no fear though, her house is lit up like the 4th of July for Christmas too).  I failed to get any night time photos, but you get the picture!  When the sun goes down, the house gets very noisy, foggy, and blinky.

Tradition has found us sharing our Halloween evening with my in laws.  We share dinner, get some photos of the kids, the decorations, the crazy lady I'm related to by marriage.  Nah, she's not all that crazy.  After we eat, we take the kids trick or treating around her neighborhood, the one Bill grew up in.  There are houses we have come to know over the years as the 'lame' houses, the houses that insist on leaving porch lights on but never answering the door, the houses where the kids dress up and hand out candy, the houses where the decorations outside are a little too REAL, the ONE house that posts the same note every year 'go away', and the houses that give out the good stuff.   

It's a tradition I am glad we can share with her.  The kids enjoy her cleverness and glee over the silly fun new displays (she adds to the collection every year!) for the year and she loves that they love it all too.  And I can say, with great satisfaction, after Halloween in her neighborhood, I don't have to buy candy for the entire year.  Scary, huh?!