Happy Halloween!
My Halloween partying goes way back. Here I am at my very first one.
There were other kids there, I swear. My mom set up everything in the basement of my grandparents’ house. Look at that spread! A Jack o’ lantern centerpiece. Cupcakes topped with candy corn. The caramel and candied apples. We pre-schoolers bobbed for apples and played pin the tail on the donkey. Man, Mom! You killed it!
As I got a little older, trick-or-treating became the it thing to do. Mom would stay home and pass out candy. Dad would take me out trick-or-treating. What I remember most from trick-or-treating in Northeast Ohio? Bundling up so much to guard against the cold that it voided out my costume.
Here’s an example:
I think there’s at least three layers going on there.
I did go through a phase where I’d buy those costumes in a box with a plastic mask. But mostly I remember the costumes that my mom made for me.
In elementary school, she made me a flowered yellow gown and I wore one of her wigs with sausage curls as a Southern belle. I won a prize!
Later I was a fairy queen and an elf courtesy of Mom and her sewing machine.
(Hey, no short jokes.)
I think the only time G and I dressed up as a couple was years ago in Michigan. We showed up as Neo and Trinity.
Otherwise, we’ve been homebodies at Halloween. When we had a house, we sat on the stoop surrounded by pumpkins and gourds and handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters.
For years now, we’ve lived in apartments or condos so our Halloween festivities are quiet and simple.
I take out a few decorations for my own amusement.
I bake a few things.
I watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown special and I squeeze in a few old classic movies like Dracula, The Mummy, and Frankenstein. Frank has always been my favorite.
I also have an annual date on Halloween night with that crazy mama’s boy, Norman Bates.
And I still carve a pumpkin.
As an adult, do you still have Halloween traditions or activities? Do you have a secret stash of your favorite candy at your fingertips?
Thanks again for reading. I care about you. You’ve been so good, go ahead and have the candy this week.
We (ok, I) made the mistake of buying candy we like and opening it a week ahead of time. Just to make sure it was safe for the kids, obviously. So tonight, fresh stash on hand, I’ll run to the door to hand it out and admire all the kids’ costumes with my assistant, pupper Darcy, at my side. It’s a long way from my younger years when every year was an opportunity for a creatively built costume. My faves are Ms Pac Man and Ugly Betty — yes, I made braces! Maybe next year. Thanks for giving us the ok to swap our veggies for the candy, for today at least!
Our tradition is usually carving pumpkins, (well, the guys do) while I bake cookies, but this year we decided to skip it for the time being. I think we'll still give it a go later in the week even though Halloween will be over!