Monday, October 27, 2008

Halloween's long ago

Gearing up for Halloween this year brought back a flood of memories from Halloween's of long ago (okay not really long in the grand scheme of things, but still 20+ years). I remember many of my Halloween costume's growing up being handmade, or thrown together from items we found. It was always fun to create our own costumes. While I don't always make costumes anymore, we do try to make them every other year or so for the girls. I also remember trick-or-treating being a grand occasion - where I would go with my siblings and nieces and nephews and sometimes friends. It was always a blast. We'd set out in a neighborhood area with pillow cases in hand. By the end of the evening, those pillowcases would be full. We'd even get handmade items - cookies, popcorn balls and from one house, at least one year ice cream cones.

But here are some memories that really stick out.

  • When I was around 4, I remember getting sick and throwing up in my aunt's neighbor's driveway. We were in the back of a truck filled with hay.
  • When I was around 6, I remember walking up to a door with my niece. She opened the screen door, and it opened opposite of what most doors do, resulting in me falling off the step and hitting my head on a Virgin Mary statue.
  • In second grade, I remember sleeping over my best friend E's house. We carved pumpkins that night (it was a few days before Halloween) and I remember roasting the pumpkin seeds. It was the first time I had roasted pumpkin seeds.
  • In fourth or fifth grade, I remember as the year I worked on a pumpkin farm. Okay, so maybe it was only one day and I wasn't paid but in anything except a pumpkin and some squash and gourds. And while there was quite a bit of pumpkin picking from the fields, there was also quite a bit of debauchery mixed in as well.
  • When I was 16, I remember sitting in the back of my brother's truck with not-yet-Husband and a goat. Yes a goat. Not-yet-Husband and I were holding the goat that we were transporting from my aunt's house to my brother's friends frat house for a Halloween party.
What are your memories from Halloween from your childhood?

I can't find any embarrassing pictures from my childhood Halloween's, so if I can find time Tuesday, I'm going to try and make a trip home to search through picture's at my mom's house. Be sure to check back and see what I can find. Also, I've got a whole slew of Halloween related posts ready for the week, so check back each day!

2 comments:

Suburb Sierra said...

I remember the smell of the hard plastic masks that stayed in place with a rubber band and resembled Wonderwoman or Casper the Ghost. Nothing we bought back then came on a hanger! And my parents always blasted haunted music out the window - that was innovative back then because no one had CD players with scarey music from Target!

Anonymous said...

My mom always made homemade caramel corn with us. hummm, may have to break out the old recipe for this year!
MMHR