Waiting for Halloween

I love the fall.  Leaves turn colorful and drop on the ground to crunch under foot.  The humidity has dropped and the weather is warm enough to get outside, but not so warm that some serious physical activity would overheat you.  Tip:  Mow the leaves instead of raking them, and go someplace beautiful for a hike.

The fall holiday we are waiting for is Halloween.  When I was a child I would plan my candy begging rounds weeks in advance.  In school we would cut and color appropriately themed ghosts, bats, and haunted houses.  Few of my friends were lucky enough to have a jack-o-lantern out for the neighborhood enjoyment.

We wore those cheap costumes with the printed picture on the front and a blinding mask, put up during our trek from house-to-house for treats.  As a child, it was all about the candy.  We would fill pillowcases with candy from our neighbors.  Every 45 feet was another door, and we would keep going until every porch light in the neighborhood was turned off.  The porch light is the signal that treats are available.

There were few problems that resulted from this night of wanton begging.  The jack-o-lanterns not brought in at night were found broken on the road the next morning.  It was just pumpkin on the road, but their broken faces made me cry.  There were a couple of curmudgeonly neighbors who paid for their bad humor all year with some eggs thrown at their front window, or several rolls of toilet paper strung from branch to branch.

It wasn’t until my own children where getting older that parents started worrying that candy might be tampered with.  Over time that worry changed Trick or Treating.  Children stopped going to people they didn’t personally know.  Stores, places of worship, schools, malls and government buildings began giving out treats rather than disappoint children.

Trick or Treating is absent from my neighborhood.   But decorations are plentiful, both inside and outside of homes.  Adults and children dress in costumes and go to parties. Parents will drive across town to take their children to the good neighborhoods for Trick or Treat.  The porch light is still the signal that treats are available.

Want to get into the Halloween Spirit?  Here are some recent blogs that will help you get into the mood.  Enjoy!

lifelessons– a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown on the fear of running out of candy,

Random Writings on the Bathroom Wall by Jim for a spooky night,

The Phil Factor where Phil Taylor recommends his top ten scariest movies of all time.

Just for good measure, here is a re-post of my spookiest.