Halloween

Halloween brings back memories of growing up in a small hometown, back when it was still alright to go door to door all over the neighborhood... even to those houses where you don't know someone very well.  We used to go around our block, then over to Abbott subdivision, then over into Noblet Heights subdivision. It was amazing the amount of ground we could cover in a couple of hours time!  We were out until the last porch light was turned out and the last pumpkin candle extingquished. It was a night for fun and candy.  It was a night for spooks and goblins. It was a night to make memories that have lasted a lifetime!

At our house, Halloween was treated with a mixture of eager aniticipation and dread!  We knew for months what we would dress up as for that one special night, only to change our minds two days beforehand.  My grandmother made me a Raggedy Anne outfit for Halloween when I was in High School for a Halloween party I went to. It was a hit and I won first place in the custome contest.  My grandmother made several of our costumes as we were growing up.  She made one for my little sister of a clown and not only did my sister wear it for several years until she outgrew it, but my nephews and nieces wore it, too!

One Halloween when I was about six, our neighbor, Mr. Wheeler, hung a dummy from the tree in his front yard.  Not only was this hanging there, but he had rigged a microphone and speaker to it, too!  So as my older sister and I came up the sidewalk, this dummy hanging in the tree said, "Happy Halloween, Sharon". I about pissed my pants right then and there!  I don't think I ever stopped to Trick or Treat at their house again. 

Another Halloween tradition was to watch the Charlie Brown special, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". I always felt so bad for Linus to always have to miss going trick or treating; and poor ol' Charlie Brown who always ended up with rocks!  Charlie Brown specials were always a staple at our house, regardless of the season!

While growing up (and for many years after I left home), my mother always made homemade popcorn balls for Halloween. These weren't the stingy, half your fist sized popcorn balls... oh, no!  These were as big as grapefruit sized popcorn balls!  For years, everyone in the neighborhood, including some parents, too, always came to the door expecting the popcorn balls.  They were never disappointed.  One year, Mom got a knock at the back door and it was the neighbor's son, Bill, coming to trick or treat!  Since then, he has collected his  popcorn balls that Mom saved for him until she quit making them... he was in his mid 30s by the time this routine ended!

Since having my own family, we have also made a big "to do" about Halloween, too.  Carving pumpkins (many Halloweens, we'd have 3 or 4 carved pumpkins); trick or treating with the kids when they were little, having ghosts and goblins coming to the door, the dogs going nuts every time the doorbell rang until we would have to lock them in the kitchen.  I really do enjoy Halloween and I miss being young enough to go out with the kids now... but it's their turn to pass the joy of the evening on to their families.

Happy Halloween!