“The dead rise again, bats fly, terror strikes and screams echo, for tonight it’s Halloween.”
Today is not a pretty day. The humidity is 92%. The clouds are grey, a lightish grey. Every now and then there is a breeze. I can see brown leaves at the ends of oak tree branches. I can also see some red leaves. I have nowhere I need to go today. I have no reason to get dressed. I’ll stay in my comfies.
When I was a kid, school was misery on Halloween. I was so excited for trick or treating I was distracted, paying only half attention to the lessons and the nun at the front of the room. I could hear every movement of the second hand, every click minute by minute. Time did not pass. The watched clock never moved.
When school was finally over, dismissal was noisy and loud. I went out the back door, the little used door. It gave me an advantage for the run home. Once there, I got out of my school clothes into my play clothes and went back to clock watching. I’d try to distract myself with a little TV. I’d bolt down my supper then beg my mother to let me leave to go trick or treating. It is too early was always her answer.
We’d get into our costumes and sit on the couch bag in hand. Finally we had out first trick or treater, and my mother would let us loose. When I was young, my brother and I used to go together. We’d start in our neighborhood and branch out from there. We went far afield. I remember the house with the columns across from the First National where they gave out nickel bars. We never missed that house. When there were few trick or treaters left and the outside lights had gone dark, we’d start for home. I remember the walk up Pomeworth Street and the sounds of our feet hitting the sidewalk pavement. I remember it was dark.
We got comfortable at home, put our candy in individual bowls and started the big swap, candy for candy, what we didn’t like swapped for what we did like. We’d go through our bowls. We had apples. Some of them had coins, a few pennies and a rare nickel. The money we kept. The apples we gave to my mother. I was never a fan of popcorn balls. We gave those to my mother too. We ate as much candy as we could before my mother put a stop to it. The evening had taken only an instant compared to the passing of the day. We stayed up later because we had no school the next day, All Saint’s Day. We did have to go to church though.
I stashed my bowl under my bed. It stayed there until it was empty. That was the unofficial end of Halloween.
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October 31, 2022 at 8:09 pm
Hi Kat,
Today was a beautiful fall day with sunny skies and a high temperature of 75°. My spouse has set up a self serve Halloween table. We have an old TV dinner table in the driveway decorated with a ghost on the left and a mean looking pumpkin on the right both of which are attached to the front. On top is a plastic bowl full of goodies. Let the kids come and help themselves. No waiting and take as much as you like.
When I was a kid I also couldn’t wait for Halloween to begin. Albert Einstein was correct, time is relative, when you’re a kid it takes forever for school to end and trick or treating to begin. When you are a teenager and making out with your honey in the back seat, time flies by as fast as the speed of sound until it’s time to bring her home. That’s about 761 miles per hour. 🙂
When we returned home with loads of goodies, when I was a kid, my sister and I never traded candy. We both liked the same stuff, chocolate of any kind, and my mother threw out the rest of the cheap stuff. When my kids were young, we threw out anything that they brought home which wasn’t wrapped at the factory. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Now that Halloween is over it seems like the winter solstice buying frenzy has already begun. I won’t repeat my dislike for the cornucopia of gift buying that begins earlier each year. It culminates near the winter solstice which has been co-opted by the Christian churches to make it into an acceptable religious celebration. Unfortunately, a very minor Jewish holiday, Chanukah, has been blown way out of proportion with gift giving and decorating because of its proximity to the winter solstice. Why should Jewish kids not get a gift for every one of the eight nights of the festival. Our economy requires that we celebrate by over spending otherwise many people will lose their jobs as companies go into bankruptcy in January.
October 31, 2022 at 9:27 pm
Hi Bob,
It stayed cloudy today, but it wasn’t super cold. Even now it is 60°. I give put big bars so I don’t choose to put them out. I also like to interact with the kids and admire their costumes. I probably had 20 of them.
As I mentioned, the school day on Halloween took forever to finish. I got impatient waiting for my mother to let us go out trick or treating. We roamed all over town. Our bags were full.
We kept everything except the popcorn balls and apples. I did toss the candy corn away as I hated the taste, too sweet. I had favorites as did my brother so we could swap bars, guarantee we’d get what we loved.
I have been shopping for a while. I managed to find great sales at stores I love. At one it was 40% off while at the other it was 50%. Both were making room for their winter stuff. I don’t think people frenzy shop in November except maybe on Black Friday. I don’t agree that Christmas was made an acceptable religious celebration for shopping purposes. It has existed far longer than shopping.
Jewish kids must have made outcries when they didn’t get presents from Santa.
I figure companies that survived the pandemic and the lock down will probably survive without people overspending for Christmas at their places of business.
October 31, 2022 at 8:23 pm
Happy Halloween!
First 2 then 7 candy-kids today before we left home at 7 pm but more dressed up kids on the street, it’s still quite warm and it looks like kid’s Halloween finally made it across the pond. We went to see a concert in the neighborhood, a great singer I had never heard of before:
October 31, 2022 at 9:30 pm
Birgit,
This is a great video. She has a classically amazing voice. Thanks!!
I probably had 20 kids tonight. I went through over a half box of M&M’s. They were pleased with the big bars. They looked great!
November 1, 2022 at 1:50 am
Wow!
Thanx for this.
Will look up more by her.
November 1, 2022 at 11:27 am
I felt the same thing when I heard her.