Halloween....season?

It's all starting to run together. No, I'm not talking about your memory of past events. I'm talking about the reality of current events--holidays, anyways.
Do you remember when Halloween was one day? When candy went on sale maybe 2-3 weeks before October 31st, and you didn't see much about it until a week or two before? Now, Halloween decorations, costumes, and candy is in stores by October 1st. They have successfully created a Halloween season. How about when Halloween was just for kids, remember that? Well, maybe you're not old enough to remember those days, but before the retail industry hijacked Halloween (and Thanksgiving, a discussion we'll have for another day) adults bought candy, and a pumpkin maybe a week before the big night. You carved the pumpkin with Mom and/or Dad's help, which was part of  all the fun, and you put it out on your front porch a night or two before Halloween, maybe not even until Halloween evening. Now, adults are expected to dress up. Your workplace isn't cool unless they have a costume day, or even a costume party. Look I'm all about having fun, but this used to be a kids' thing.
(Here I go, on my rocking chair), We kids went out, in groups much of the time, and walked the neighborhood, trick or treating. Many houses really got into the "scare" part of Halloween--the homeowners might decorate with scary stuff, or even playing the role of a vampire, or a witch, or ghoul or something. I remember some of these adults having some pretty damned scary stuff going on.
One guy, a few blocks from my house in South Miami, wore a black trench coat and hat, and wrapped up his face in Ace bandage, and wore a pair of mirrored sunglasses. He would stand in his driveway, perfectly still, and we would carefully creep up to his porch and get our candy, at which point he would lunge at us, and we would all run away, shrieking. Great fun!
Another woman we knew had a spooky looking yard with big trees, and low-hanging oak branches. She dressed up as a witch and had a big black cauldron in the side yard, with dry ice inside, so there was this mist coming out of it. She would stir it with a big stick and cackle was we walked up to her porch. This was spooky stuff for little kids!
I suppose people think that the streets are too dangerous these days, and traffic-wise, they're right. But kids are actually safer, in my opinion, today. There is less of a chance of them getting kidnapped or attacked. No one had cell phones back in the day. No one had cameras on their houses, or even their businesses, either. I really believe that a group of 3 or 4 kids trick or treating together are way safer than they were in the 60's or 70's.
Not one kid came to our house last Thursday night. They were all at the community's Trick or Treat event. A couple of thousand people came to Pinecrest's "Track or Treat" at Greer Park. And so it goes, throughout the county, and, I presume, throughout our country.
On Tuesday, which was October 29th, I went to a CVS, and all over the front of the store were Christmas decorations: Nutcracker soldiers, wreaths, Santas.... Christmas! Are you kidding me?
I'm sure kids have fun during the holidays, but I think the ones who really have a great time are the merchants, when they see their profit and loss statements.