Happy Halloween =) Time for ghosts and goblins and all things cute… and candy… free candy….as much as you want depending on your endurance and patience to hike house to house getting single or sometimes, double pieces at a time.
Let’s face it… the best and coolest places give out real chocolate 😉
Oh wait… hold on… I’m like… an adult now…. do I get to participate ??
Haha I still love having a costume and heading out with my kids… and they are all pretty much grown but I can still tag along ’cause now I’m in grandparent status.
I will shamelessly admit I still love dressing up. I love costumes and all things fun. I figure there are enough people in the world holding down the “sane, sensible adult category” I don’t need to take up space there 😉
So yeah… costume ready… and I do get to fish some good prizes outta the kids treat bags so it’s a win/win.
But I got to thinking…. hang with me if you will…. I was getting a little nostalgic thinking of Halloweens past and trick or treating when I honestly WAS a kid.
Times seemed simpler. The day seemed longer. There weren’t so many of the worries and concerns there are today. There weren’t crazy stigmas tied to it. You got to make tissue ghosts and spiders and have real Halloween parties in school before it became generically “fall” themed. It was just a fun time to dress up in cool costumes and roam the neighborhood hoping to get enough candy to carry you over till Christmas.
My younger childhood was spent in a classic low key typical neighborhood where all the kids roamed and hung out at various houses all year long. Even as a kid I got that it was a pretty comfy thing. On Halloween though it was always fun because the neighbors went all out to make sure we enjoyed ourselves. There was an older lady down the street who made real, honest super sweet popcorn balls. They were awesome. There was never even a hint we shouldn’t eat them. She was like the resident grandmother of the group. My Mom of course, cookie baker, as well as making those crazy red candy apples that threatened to break your teeth. Honestly, I never did like them. I love caramel ones though.
Costumes of course were simple affairs crafted by whatever you could pull together laying around the house. My brother and I were skilled at coming up with stuff…. and of course our Mom had to be dragged into it also. My poor brother, bless his heart, would pretty much go along with whatever hair brained ideas I came up with.
We would head out at dusk, orange plastic pumpkins with happy smiley faces in tow. The plan? Have them full before we returned home for the evening… or until our mom made us stop 😉
I don’t know why those evenings took on that “spooky” kinda feeling, but they did. You know…. where you spent time looking over your shoulder ? worried something might pop out and grab you ? Mom always said we shouldn’t worry ’cause whatever grabbed us would soon return us haha
One year we had hit up a small one floor apartment complex. It was perfect….just seamless moving from one door to another collecting our sugar high.
Until…. this small, evil, yapping Chihuahua came outta nowhere and started chasing us. ( seriously I think they have “little dog” syndrome. Must they all be so nasty?) My brothers pumpkin went flying, I bolted, that dog seemed like it was everywhere….candy flying…some screaming… the owner running after it yelling… “Frito! Come here!” ( yes. Frito)
We managed to get his pumpkin and then made a quick exit out of there. Thanks dog for ruining a good thing… but we weren’t up to wrestling with that demon anymore.
Those nights were a time of laughter and fun and high expectations. My brother and I would head home, dump out all the candy, set aside the ” not so desirable” fare and re-bucket the “good stuff”. There was the inevitable trading off for our favorites from each other.
Simple times that go by to fast. Actually, simple times that are lost and gone in todays world.
Maybe it’s just fun to me to still appreciate it on some level…. “Adult” or not. Actually in some ways, it’s more fun as an adult…. although…. the neighbors kinda frown when you show up on their door step looking for free chocolate 😉
What fun Halloween memories do you have ? Do you still like dressing up for it ?
sassyfitnesschick 