As this crisp, fall weather continues to usher in, before you know it, Thanksgiving and then Christmas will be here. These changes in temperature bring forth the start of the holiday season—beginning with Halloween—and continuing all the way to New Year’s Day.

Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays, right up there with Christmas, with me as the natural actor always loving to dress up in a costume. There isn’t a particular meal or anything that took place on Halloween—obviously because it’s really not like a “dinner and visiting” type holiday—except for the practice of trick-or-treating, of course. And I guess, that in itself was a tradition because that activity always involved family as well.

Each October 31st, I’d eagerly get dressed up (always wishing it wasn’t too cold that my mother would force me to wear my winter coat over my costume), and go walking around the neighborhood with my cousins. We’d walk block after block of houses in Pal Park, and then to Broad Avenue, where we’d hit up the stores and pose in our outfits in front of Vincent’s Photos for their “window wall of fame.” Then we’d end up at our grandparents’ house as our last stop—where we’d dump out all of our candy on the living room carpet, slowly sort through it and trade treats. There would always be an aroma of something good coming from the kitchen, and the house was always so warm and comforting after out treks around town.

I had some unbelievable costumes over the years (most of which were handmade from my mother.) I used to start thinking about what I was going to be in the middle of the summer, and would be so excited to go to the fabric store for supplies to create my getup. Some of my memorable ones of choice include He-Man—this was not handmade because as a kid I had to have the official He-Man costume in the box with the Masters of the Universe logo on it (see above left, me circa '84 or so), Popeye-the-Sailor (four times over the years with four different homemade costumes), Beetlejuice, a Ninja Turtle, Super Mario and Mickey Mouse, just to name a few. You didn’t think I went as boring things like a vampire did you—no—I was always actual characters and really BECAME the character. I used to think some of the kids in my class were only in it for the mini Snickers bars, I mean they’d wear jeans and a t-shirt and then some goblin mask. What a cop out!

I still dress up to this day. Last year, me and Megin went to Club Rise in Lodi as Bonnie & Clyde after taking Matthew (see above right, Super Mario) around town. I am a little undecided if we will don any costumes come Sunday or just wear orange shirts. I’ll tell you this much though, we will be taking the kids trick-or-treating and will definitely be handing out a bucket full of candy for any kids that come knocking on our door when we get home. I really get into the spirit—like I said, I’m a natural born entertainer. Or, maybe, I’ll just always be a big kid at heart.


PS - Don’t forget to tune in to Vh1 the day after Halloween, as I make my series debut in the brand new reality show, “My Big Friggin’ Wedding.” The show will feature my family and I in ten episodes which begin airing at 9pm on Monday, Nov. 1st on Vh1 and every week after that—same time and channel.