...now that the holiday is almost over! I must admit that I am a big kid at heart when it comes to holidays, and I like this one a lot. Of course, Halloween has changed a lot over the years. When I was a kid, Halloween was mainly for kids, but it was a big deal for kids. My mother always made us original costumes-no cheesy store bought ones for us! We three kids would go out on our own from the age of six or so and visit our whole neighborhood of around 100 houses. We carried large brown grocery bags that we filled, brought home and dumped out, and went back and filled them again. We had huge amounts of treats, including apples, cookies, popcorn balls, and other things besides candy. We always had a ball!
When our kids were little, I decorated the house with cardboard cutouts and homemade decorations as well as jack-o-lanterns. Like my mom before me, I considered it a point of honor to make original costumes for our kids. We lived on a farm where in 29 years we had only about 3 trick-or-treaters stop by, so my sister and her kids would come out, and we would go to downtown LJ and trick-or-treat there. Of course, by that time, it was necessary for parents to accompany their kids, but we stayed in the background as much as possible. The kids still got some homemade treats, but this was about the time that people were finding pins and razor blades and poison, so they could only eat unwrapped food if they knew the source personally.
As the kids got older, we accumulated a variety of decorations, as Halloween decorations were becoming more popular and sophisticated. I now have a large collection of stuffed pumpkins, and cobwebs and spiders, as well as some witches and other decorations. Of course, the kids grew up, but I continued to decorate and to add to my collection. The kids may have grown up, but I guess I didn't! However, I notice that there are a lot more decorations in yards these days, and adults dress up like the kids do. So maybe I am not so out of sync.
This year we moved to a patio home, which fronts a subdivision of homes with families. I got out my decorations, and I only put out the pumpkins and a few witches, thinking that in this new house that we didn't need as much. However, when I was done, Terry asked me where the skeletons and the cobwebs and witch hats were. I had thought he would think I was silly for decorating, but he wanted the whole kit and kaboodle! So here are two old people with a house full of Halloween decorations and nobody but us to enjoy them. Drew was impressed when he was here, but I believe he's the only company we've had. I looked forward to tonight when we might finally get trick-or treaters. I bought three bags of fun-sized candy bars, but only one family came around. They said that there were very few trick-or-treaters out, in spite of some gorgeous weather and Halloween being on Friday. I guess with all the businesses and churches having trick-or-treat night or parties, the kids don't get around to the neighborhoods much anymore. I guess this is safer for the kids and easier for the parents, but this is a tradition that I am very sorry to see die. I loved going out when I was little, and many of today's kids are missing out on a lot of fun. I'm glad that Alissa and the boys went out. Oh, well, at least I bought candy that I like to eat, and I have enjoyed my festive decorations. Life is good....
2 comments:
I'll keep taking them out as long as it's allowed...trick or treating in town or at the mall just isn't the same!
I just love all your decorations Nancy. I, too, used to really enjoy Halloween as a child. My daughter-in-law took Thomas Wyatt and they had so much fun. We don't get many trick or treaters anymore here either. The churches here have something called trunk or treat and people park in the church lot and kids go from car to car and trick or treat.
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