Monday, November 1, 2010

HALLOWEEN PAST

Halloween for me as a child was the best holiday of the year.  Why?  Because growing up in a home that didn't have very much money, candy was very far and few between.  Mom didn't have extra money to treat us to candy. So when Halloween rolled around, we would find the BIGGEST pillowcase in the house and stay out for hours collecting as much as we could.  While other children were walking from house to house...we were RUNNING.  I laugh thinking about it now because as much as I 'thought' I wanted the candy, it usually sat for months in my secret hiding place and then eventually I would throw it away because it became stale.  Go figure.  Then there was the year that Halloween fell on a Sunday.  That meant no trick or treating.  My mom was trying to teach us the importance of 'keeping the Sabbath day holy'.  So as a consolation prize she made us go out the night before.  We tried to tell her that people would think we were weird, but she convinced us otherwise and out the door we went.  I think we made it up one side of our street before giving in to the embarrassment of knocking on people's doors and having them look at us like we had three heads.  "Trick or Treat" we would exclaim.  "But Halloween's tomorrow" was always the reply as they stood there with a confused look on their face.  "Our mom won't let us trick or treat on Sunday so we had to go out tonight." was the excuse we gave.  I think we got some pretzels and fruit and maybe some candy if we were lucky.  Some even accused us of lying, figuring we were collecting on Saturday and that we'd be back on Sunday dressed in a different costume so no one would notice.  So we returned home defeated.  Did we learn some kind of life lesson from this experience? Maybe, maybe not.  But it sure makes for a FUNNY memory.  I joke with my mom that it scarred me.  But really it didn't.  In fact I find it quite humorous as I reflect back to that memory.  So thank you mom, for making us go out on Halloween Eve and embarrassing ourselves for the sake of candy.  Amen.

5 comments:

shirlgirl said...

In New Hampshire where my aunt lived (Dover), the kids used to go out on the 30th instead of the 31st, so you were not alone.

LL said...

i'm pointing my finger at you and laughing!!!
JUST KIDDING. I'm laughing with you, I love to hear the Hutchins family stories...always good!

The Kings said...

oh what a good Mum you have :)

Sargent Family said...

Dad made us do the same thing! He called all the people on our street, though, and told them the deal. You could still tell they thought we were crazy religious zealots (or at least our dad was!) and it was pretty humiliating, because we KNEW we were the only ones doing it and that dad had to call and make special arrangements. I'm stil in the "scarred" category, and if you ever want to bring it up with him, you are more that welcome:-D

Jo Jo said...

Loving my indian dress on you. Still have that. Never had to have that experience from Mom, what's up with that?