31 October 2010

Trick or Treat

We had our first trick or treater today. We've lived here 19 years and he was our first. It was our grand-nephew and his parents. We were looking forward to having five more trick-or-treaters tonight but they were delayed & will arrive tomorrow.

When I was a child, we went to the fire department for a Halloween party. My dad was chief and the auxiliary always decorated the bays with old fashioned decorations and provided every kind of treat that you can imagine.

You know that creamsickle ice cream/sherbet stuff that you eat with a wooden "spoon"? That was the big treat of the night. We always brought some of the leftovers home. For everyone else that is a summer treat, for us it is an October treat.

I lived on a lake so treating was tricky. Houses weren't easily accessible so my parents or brothers would take me to see friends then to the fire hall. From there, when I was older, I could walk over to what they called The Boulevard. It was a narrow street, that used to be one way, that all the kids used to walk down.

People talk about safety when it comes to treating. We always went in groups and there were certain houses that we didn't go to. I think the bigger kids were the ones that told us where not to go. I don't remember there being parents around much.

There was the one house on the hill that everyone said was haunted. I think it just had windchimes. There was the one house that always gave apples. I don't ever remember being scared. Cold, yes, and wet, sometimes. This is Washington State after all.

Despite those memories, I've never been a big Halloween fan. I don't enjoy dressing up. Even at the school, I wore Halloween themed clothing not costumes. It's not the fear-of-clowns thing, I just don't enjoy it.

Also, because of the school rules, I have the habit of decorating with the "friendly" decorations instead of the scary ones. When I am in Target, I do appreciate all the fun decorations, I just don't have them.

Kevin brought home a Halloween cookie for me on Friday that I didn't eat. Finally, he ate it. It had a big plastic spider on it that he threatened to hide on his mom's bed. (I know, right?)

I started making dinner tonight and went to phone my nephew. I about came out of my skin when I noticed this:


Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

What's your Halloween memories?

2 comments:

creative kerfuffle said...

i am the opposite : ) halloween is my fave holiday. i love dressing up, though i don't always do it. i love helping my kids w/ their costumes and decorating outside etc. each year, since we've all had kids, we go to my brother's neighborhood and trick or treat, which is what we did last night. i like scary halloween decorations and prefer creative costumes to store bought, but the kids sometimes prefer store bought. growing up i don't remember my parents going out w/ us either, but, we go out w/ out kids.

Swistle said...

"I think it just had windchimes"--AHA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

I dislike Halloween and wish I could skip it. As a child I liked the candy but was genuinely scared of the dark and the people dressed as scary stuff and the memory of every scary story I'd ever heard.