B O O !

The Halloween Nerd

Last night was a not-so-sp00ky night at Mimi and Grandad’s. For one thing, Grandad wasn't here. He went to join in the festivities at Shannon and Molly's house - their annual night of Halloween fun. There is always a party on the front porch of their house, complete with a candy-encompassed skull shrieking “take one!"as the kids approach; a well appointed table of eyeballs, green gruel, a bowl of worms and the like, is available for all who missed dinner. This year there were two coffins with spooky voices shouting out at approaching treaters. Even Magic, their greyhound, joined the fun, lying in costume at the foot of the stairs. They had hoards of kids come by, and everyone enjoyed getting in on the action.

Brother Nerds...

On the contrary, here at the Heath, few spooks knocked at my door. Now, as much as I dislike Halloween, I miss the children dressed in fairy costumes and pumpkin suits, holding out bags to be filled with the treats that I carefully picked to please them. It seems that the eleven houses in our neighborhood won’t produce enough of a haul to make it worth the walk around the cul de sac.

Back in "my day", Halloween was quite different. As I recall, after school, Betty, Judy, Hugh and I would head off to the attic looking for something we could make a costume out of. I mostly remember coming up with a “hobo” costume, ripping and layering some old clothes (it was colder then and the layers usually felt good). We would put black stuff (charcoal) on our faces to look dirty and we were good to go! I'm sure, if we could find an old one, a bed sheet over our heads with cut-outs for the eyes would have made a pretty good ghost, but I don't remember actually doing that myself. I would sometimes go as a "lady" - I liked dressing up in Mother's old dresses and putting on lipstick...but never did we buy a costume!

We always went out just before dark, when we couldn’t wait any longer to leave the house. I remember how hard it was to wait for darkness to fall; besides, I was always afraid to stay out too late, even though the prospect of getting candy overcame most of my fears. You see, the later it got, the fewer little kids there were, and the more older, firecracker-throwing boys lurked the streets...Now, in the dark, THAT WAS SCARY!

Back then you could always count on some tricks being played: soap on windows and cars, t.p. in trees and turned-over flower pots on the front porches of people not at home. That was what made Halloween scary for me…those people who were out there that would do that sort of thing! (But if the truth be known, I still don't like to watch scary movies or see gruesome pictures...okay, I'm a chicken.)

Ultimately, my siblings and I would arrive back home, after staying out as long as we could in order to gather as much of the annual all-you-can-eat candy as possible. Back then you only got one small piece at a time; it was really hard work! Houses were further apart then, too, and people didn’t have unlimited supplies. When they ran out, lights were turned off and tricks were played. Anyway, we would all pour out our sacks, sort, count and exchange (this was the one time when different tastes and a lot of siblings came in handy).

I don’t ever remember grown-ups being involved in Halloween. This was OUR time, and if you could survive the night…the rewards were awesome! Except for Christmas, treats were never so plentiful and the goal was to make it last for as long as you could.

I thought about all nine of my grandchildren tonight…out there, somewhere, beneath the same moon light…wondering how you looked in your costumes, how much candy was in your bags and if you were having a good time. I just can't wait for more pictures!

My sister, the hygienist, would want me to remind you to be sure to brush your teeth after eating all that candy!

Thanks to the S-C's for the great pictures. A Halloween Nerd and his brother with an adorable bunny rabbit...bet they hauled in enough candy for the rest of the year! Great costumes guys.

(Hey, I just got a picture of Clark Gable and his Pirate friend, with a promise of more pics to follow!)

Got Halloween Pictures? I'll post them.
Mimi Josh and Melissa's first pumpkin carving as a married couple.