Halloween Memories

Halloween Memories

I realize that Halloween is over, but this weekend I was reminded of a Halloween when I was 7 and my sister, Kate, had just turned 6. It was July. Yes, July.

Easter candy having long been eaten, Kate and I decided we wanted to have another candy ‘stash’ and we could not wait until October 31st. So we decided that if we dressed up in costumes and ‘trick or treated’ around the neighborhood, we could easily get some candy….brilliant kids, huh???

Obviously, we did not tell Mom, and Dad was at work because it was the middle of the day. So, we just got dressed up, our costumes were always homemade. We never had store bought costumes, so we just made up our costumes, we were almost always hobos – yes that is dating me, but oh well. Then we set out around the neighborhood. We went up and down our block without Mom catching on, or a neighbor tattling on us! It never occurred to us that 1. Some neighbors might not have candy stashed away for such an occasion and 2. We were doing anything wrong. We thought we were being clever and industrious. We wanted something and figured out a way to get it on our own.

So we made it around the block and back home with our orange plastic pumpkins filled with candy. It was only when we got home that we realized our mistake…….Mom was FURIOUS!!! We got into so much trouble. I think I recall this memory because her hand print is still on my behind. I’m sure we got the usual, “Wait until your Father hears about this!”.

I must admit, thinking about this decades later, I know the neighbors got a kick out of our creative nature – I’m sure they had a BIG laugh, and Mom was probably embarrassed about her children begging around the neighborhood. But all in all, I think we were pretty smart kids! Remember this if your kids ever try this one. They will probably grow up to be GREAT adults.