Memories of Halloween

This is one of days I wish I was a kid again. Gotta love those times dressing up/becoming someone different for the night [I was never really into playing 'dress-up' the rest of the year] and acting the part. October 31st was a night when you WERE something other than yourself. And then running through the neighborhood getting all of the candy we could. What can be better than that?

I had 6 brothers and sisters, so after school, the house would be full of us running around getting ready. Of course, we knew way in advance what we were going to be [and what our friends were going to be] but that afternoon, we still had to pull everything together. This was before all of the commercialism where parents would be the kid's costume from the grocery or drug store. And can you imagine having to buy 7 costumes every year? So we had to be pretty creative. The only thing that I didn't like, though, was my parents making us put on heavy clothing under the costumes so we wouldn't get cold. Cold? Who would get cold on a night like this? Well, maybe here in Michigan...

Some of the things I became on Halloween were: a gypsy, devil, baseball player, cave man [I think I was a cave man 2 years in a row], and an Indian. None of these other beings could be all that bulky, we didn't want to be hindered as we went door-to-door. I remember feeling so grown up when I was able to head out with friends instead of tagging along with my older siblings. And then, at the end of the evening, we HAD to see who had the biggest stash of goods.

In a lot of ways, I liked halloween even more than Christmas. It was so much more of a participatory event, from planning who we'd be [and changing our minds so often], figuring out how to create and then BE that character in any way we wanted, making plans with our friends as to the best route through the neighborhood in the quickest time, and then getting a pillow-case full of treats, stuff we weren't often allowed to have during the rest of the year.

Such memories; oh to be a kid again. But the next generation is following our traditions; this evening, I get to see who my 7 year old niece will be for the night AND I get to help pass out the treats for the other ghosts and goblins. Hmm, what am I going to be this evening?