Matthew and Emily ran through the store to the costume display.?I want to be a princess!? cried Emily, reaching for a frilly pink dress with a crown.But Matthew couldn?t decide. ?I want to be a cowboy! Or maybe a space warrior? or a racecar driver!? Just then, he saw some creepy monster masks and skeleton shirts. Yuck!Later, as they walked out to the car with their new costumes, Matthew asked, ?Mommy, why do some people wear scary costumes on Halloween???Yeah,? said Emily, ?And how come they put up all those scary decorations???Well,? said Mommy, ?it?s an old Halloween tradition. Hundreds of years ago, many people believed that Halloween was a wicked day?a day when ghosts and evil spirits could hurt them. So they dressed up in costumes to disguise themselves?to hide their true identity from the evil spirits?and even to scare them away.?As they turned onto their street, Matthew saw Mr. Johnson putting plastic spiderwebs and pumpkins on his porch. ?Was it true?? Matthew asked. ?Did ghosts really chase after people back then? And did the costumes scare them away???No, of course not,? Mommy answered. ?There are no such things as ghosts. There are some scary things in the world?some of them are very real and some of them are just in our imaginations. But we don?t have to be afraid, no matter what. We have something much better than a scary cos

Ditchfield, Christin