One of my favorite traditions of Halloween is the annual viewing of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, a Peanuts television special that first aired back in 1966. I mean it’s a classic. These days, I actually own a physical copy so I don’t have to look through my TV Guide to find out where and when it will be on.

I now have the soundtrack on vinyl with just the music and on CD with the added sound effects. Am I nerdy or what? Not to mention that the vinyl is orange and shaped like a pumpkin.

But for me, it’s what makes the seasons so great. It can instantly take me back to when I was as little as the kids in the cartoon and get me feeling all those feelings again. I remember getting dressed up in those costumes with the masks that I could see out of or breathe in and smelled like hot plastic. Back when the world seemed a lot smaller and safer.

This year I got the honors of being able to hand out candy to all the trick-or-treaters. I got to say, “Happy Halloween” over and over without ever getting tired of it. And no, I didn’t hand out any rocks to any round-headed kids.