HALLOWEEN candy: the gift that keeps on giving (Shutterstock).

Don’t Snicker at This Dept. This being October, I spend a lot of my time thinking about Halloween. Being an Angels fan – what with the paucity of playoff action for the Anaheimers – I have lots of mental space to think about the most exciting thing that happens in the 10th month.

I’ve reached the conclusion that Halloween may be edging out Christmas and Thanksgiving for my favorite holiday. Maybe.

The appeal of Halloween is that – unlike Thanksgiving – it’s full of kid food that lasts even longer than that leftover turkey. You get to go trick-or-treating with your friends, a group which is probably not the same as your relatives.

Christmas – from a purely secular viewpoint – has a great run-up, but after the unwrapping of the presents, there’s the almost inevitable letdown. There’s that moment when you asked your folks for a particularly rare and/or expensive toy and got “a nice sweater.”

But Halloween … if you take care and don’t gorge yourself … can last for days and days. The trick is to not eat all the good stuff – i.e., Snickers and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – at first, ‘cause then you are soon stuck with the hard candy and the popcorn balls from the cheap so-and-so’s down the block.

If you show some adult-strength patience, Halloween can be the gift that keeps on giving.

Just Sayin’ Dept. I was in Stater Bros. the other day and the lines were uncommonly long. With only two checkout stands open and my shopping cart full, I despaired.

Having been raised Catholic, I said (under my breath) “I wonder who the patron saint of long supermarket lines is”?

Not two minutes later, three store employees appeared and opened three more checkstands and we were checked out and in the parking lot faster than you can say, “Dominus vobiscum.”

I’m not making any kind of spiritual claim here, but …