Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Flashback: Halloween 1978 - 1995


I told you a couple of weeks ago that Halloween was not my favorite holiday...let me give you a few reasons. Starting with really cute twins (who accuse me of only dressing them like clowns or hobos) who's cuteness generated a stop at every house of every person we ever knew (are you getting my drift?) and we had to visit for at least 15 minutes and they had to take photos, and give the girls a pre-stuffed bag of candy and money and toys, then give kisses, and hugs, and we would get back in the car with the girls wanting to eat the candy and crying because they just wanted to go home and call it a night (and that was after the 1st stop). Oh...the memories are so vivid. For some reason I also remember that every halloween with the kids we had miserable weather. When I would stop the car and we would get out, they always walked through a big puddle, or muddy grass so by the end of the night the inside of the car looked like a mud pit with candy wrappers. It just dawned on me that, for some reason Rick always got to stay home "just in case we got trick-or-treaters". For those of you who know where we live or lived....we didn't get trick-or-treaters, ever. Now that we have friends and relatives with little kids we are blessed with their excitement, but prior to that...NO KIDS SHOWED UP AT OUR HOUSE. (We did however buy candy every year...just in case)

Once we arrived back at the house, I had to check the candy out for "safety" sake. Usually there was a problem with the little 3 musketeer bars. I'm not sure what the problem was, but I generally had to "try" them out to make sure they weren't poisionous. By the 2nd or 3rd candy bar they caught on to my little scheme and forbid me to touch their plastic pumpkins. It was a little better once Jacob was the only one trick-or-treating because he didn't like chocolate. Oh, that was too bad. He never seemed to mind that I had to "check his pumpkin for safety sake".

Now that it has taken me 2 days to write this blog, I'm realizing that I miss those times. I still get to help my kids with costume ideas (I haven't chosen clowns or hobos in the past 10 years - I even made the girls Flintstone costumes a couple of years ago) , I don't get to check out the contents of the plastic pumpkins, but most of all...I miss the faces of my children as I would get them ready right after school to show Grandma & Grandpa (and everyone else we knew) how adorable they looked. And, no matter what they were dressed as...they were always the cutest trick or treaters of the night.

I hope to live for a very long time so I can be the Grandma & Auntie who has bags of candy, and money, and toys waiting for the clown to arrive so I can give hugs and kisses. Halloween doesn't seem that bad after all....does it?

Sweet 3 Musketeer dreams,
Dor

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

OH, HOW I CAN REMEMBER THOSE DAYS, THE GIRLS WERE ALWAYS DRESSED UP IN THE CUTEST COSTUMES, AND WE WOULD ALWAYS BE WAITING TO SEE THEM, THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!!
CINDY

Anonymous said...

This morning as I was rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off(every morning) getting ready for work, I had to stop in my tracks when Jean Ennerson was talking about a special coming up on October 28th, 9pm, channel 5. They along with Seattle Cancer Care Alliance are doing a program on lung cancer. It's called something like "To clear the air," and is going to basically clear up the misconceptions on lung cancer. Thought everyone might want to know.
Love ya' more than candy corn!
-Sue

Anonymous said...

I can't stop smiling. Your words couldn't be more accurate. You always seemed to hate Halloween... except for the 3 musketeer bars. I can still hear you saying, "I need to make sure it isn't poisonous" in a serious voice. Your concern sounded very real so we never questioned you. I'm pretty sure I have used that line a time or two in my life as well. After reading your description of the muddy, wrapper-filled car, I think it's only appropriate to thank you for putting up with dirty little "clowns" for all those years. Although you never wore a costume, thanks for being "super mom."