Crazy Holiday Blogfest

Christine Danek is hosting a holiday blogfest. 250 words, any holiday. Go

Here if you want to join up or read other entries.

As for mine, the third book I wrote, Social Disorder, doesn't have a strong enough hook or villain to be sellable right now, but it does have my favorite love story (of mine) in it. It also, for some reason, hits on all the major school-year holidays (plus homecoming and prom). The Christmas and Valentine's stuff fall when the protag and her love interest (Hailey and Nick) are in the thick of their relationship, which just reads too gushy out of context, so I'm going to rewind the year a bit and go to Halloween:
 

We walked along with my brother and his friends, keeping a proper cool-factor distance. “I love Halloween,” Nick said, putting his face up to meet the fall wind.

“Horrific costumes. Scary decorations. And candy as a reward for all the mayhem. What’s not to like?" I said. "For a guy.”

He put a hand over his heart as if I’d shot him. “I was going to say it’s good we still have a tradition where strangers open their doors and give to others.”

“You were not,” I said.

“Okay.” He shoved his hands in his over-sized jeans. “You were right the first time.”

“Men.” I shook my head.

“Careful. We’d make a pretty strange-tasting candy bar if you tried to lump us all together like that.”

I hid my smile in the collar of my jacket, which had blown against my face.

“Where’s your dad?” he asked.

“What dad?” We stepped in silence. Five steps. “Tom,” I yelled out. “Wait for us to cross the road.” I received a scowl for my safety efforts, but Tom and his friends did slow down.

“My dad is in California trying to strike gold in the software business,” Nick said. “Mom didn’t want to move, so now we get a monthly check and I get a matching phone call. We talk about grades and computers for thirty minutes, and then he’s done being a dad.”

“Until the next month,” I said, and Nick nodded. We made it to Tom and his buddies who stopped checking out their loot and crossed the road.

Not many trick-or-treaters here in the old suburbs, I thought, but houses still had their lights on. In hopes of giving? Later that night, they would eat their leftover candy, and lament—like Gram did—that they didn’t get as many kids as they used to. Maybe Nick had hit closer to the truth than he even realized.

Like Nick, I love Halloween, but Christmas is still my favorite.
Which holiday do you like best and why?