Halloween is one of the oldest holidays, going back thousands of years, and has been influenced by many cultures. Celtics, Druids, Romans, even the Christian religion got into the act as they tried to capitalize on this pagan holiday (similarly to the way they did Christmas) by making Nov. 1st, a church holiday to honor the saints.

     It was sometime around the mid 9th century A.D., that the Roman Catholic church made this day a holiday and called it All Saint's Day or Hallowmas or All Hallows. Later on, when the Church made Nov. 2nd All Soul's Day, the whole celebration eventually became known as All Hallow Eve; and finally Halloween.

    Over the years the customs from all the cultures mingled and while in many countries various religious and secular customs still prevail, until recent years, the holiday was considered by many in the U.S. as primarily a fun holiday for children. Kids dressing up as Ghosts, Devils, and Dracula, with a smattering of current movie, cartoon and TV personalities, going about from house to house to beg for treats.

     Halloween statistics can be scarier than the kids. Steadily gaining momentum,Halloween suddenlymushroomed into an event that surprised even the most optimistic forecasters as adults (especially baby boomers seemingly reluctant to forego the memories of their childhood) began to splurge with all types of parties and galas as they participated in the make believe of Halloween.

     Merchants rushed to fill the gap between "back to school" sales and the Christmas holidays. Last year's retail sales were estimated at an unprecedented $5.77 billion. A partial breakdown includes: candy over $2 billion (top candy holiday); home decorating 1.77 billion remains second only to the Christmas holiday season; costumes exceeding well over $1.5 billion; and greeting cards over $30 million, to name just a few.

     In keeping with the season, but far scarier to us than these escalating statistics, is the danger of a heating system failure. It’s much worse than a trick or prank. Aside from the normal inconvenience and discomfort that is normally associated with a system failure, if it should occur when you are away from home, it can also bring frozen pipes, property damage and costly repair bills.

LAST CALL:

     Only 4 days remain to take advantage of our annual pre season discounts to get your heating system ready for winter. Already you have missed the deadlines for the whopping 40% and 30% discounts but you still have 4 days to get the 20% discount (expires 10/31/09)  which “ain’t” bad either!

     See it for yourself! See it in writing, not only the name of each of the 32 points BUT the effect each point has on the performance of your system (and why you should not settle for less) by going to our website. Click here. We believe we are safe in saying, that no other local contractor dare match that list...certainly not in writing and certainly not for $39.95, $49.95 or even $59.95.

     But you must act promptly and don’t forget, there is an additional $5 discount for scheduling online. On line reservations can be made by clicking here. Reservations can also be made by phone; just call:  HOT-COLD (757-468-2653).