Monday, October 31, 2011

treat

Home-made Halloween costumes were the norm when I was a girl. Pirates, hobos and ghosts were popular because they just needed Dad's cast off clothing or old white bed sheets. Some zealous mothers bought patterns from Butterick or Simplicity and went all out. The resulting costumes usually led to children staggering along the sidewalk, nodding under the weight of a ten pound head while peering in vain through teeny little eye holes.
We ranged far and wide in those days, chaperoned only by friends clutching the mandatory pillow case.
It wasn't unusual for elderly folks to invite us in for a quick, bright eyed visit in their warmly lit kitchen where we plucked popcorn balls or apples from a big bowl.
Triumphantly returning home, our bag held handfuls of Halloween Kisses; toffee wrapped in orange and black, and chocolate bars aplenty. The ten cent size for goodness sake. There used to be five and ten cent sized chocolate bars but of course there is only one size now, somewhere in the middle. The price is ten times higher but forty years will do that.
I am waiting expectantly for the arrival of two very special trick or treaters tonight. I will enjoy the bright eyed visit in my warmly lit kitchen and then range not too far and wide with them, but just far enough to nestle a memory of grinning pumpkins and candy bars for the next generation.

2 comments:

  1. Glenda, had they invented sidewalks in that part of the world when you were out T or T'ing? I don't think they have them, yet.

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  2. Sidewalks?! I was part of the McCraken General Store era. I really am deceptively young:) It's just a hazard of growing up in a small town ( or a blessing in the case of Blue River)that made life slightly out of step with the rest of the world. Everywhere else it was well past the middle of the twentieth century but who knew.

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