Halloween 2010

(outside the haunted sounds of werewolves and ghosts loom around the front yard grave yard)

Post chili and Nathan's hot dogs; I sit here sipping my Halloween appletini, waiting anxiously for the next trick-r-treater to come score my soda pop and cheese popcorn...

(hold on the door bell is ringing)

(Mrs. Potato Head greets the ghouls and goblins)

I say it every year, I'll say it again, what is wrong with kids?!  I know they tell jokes, but when I open the door can't they say "trick-r-treat".  Instead they stand there staring at me wondering why the heck I am not just tossing them the goods. I'm having to invite, some even beg for the joke--what's a vampires favorite dog? A blood hound (sorry kid I can't be stumped).  Even in the world of begging kids have lost their skill, there manners.

Princess A, King Ralph and I are reminiscing about Halloweens past. M aka Lady Gaga and D, no costume party girl, are at parties.  Parties happen on a Sunday October 31, when school is off for the next two days. 

I was nine years old--back in the days when the neighborhood streets where crowded and costumes were created from whatever you could put together from the closest--when I got to a house with ghoulish music coming from behind the door of the house that was lit with black lights.  The home owner opened the door and invited us kids in to the living room that had been emptied of all its contents.  All that was in there was a casket with a man lying "dead" still inside. I remember trembling with fear.  I still am not a fan of haunted houses--why the heck would anyone purposely want to be scared...and pay big bucks for the fright?!  The woman took my hand, lead me to the casket where the living dead man slowly raised from the casket and handed me a piece of candy, never uttering a word.  CREEPY!  The memory is still haunting all these years later.  As an adult and homeowner all I can think about is the work and effort that had to go into clearing a living room for one night.  No thank you.   

King Ralph recalls dressing like a girl and being asked what he was.  He had to explain he was a boy dressed as a girl.  I am not sure if that is good or bad?

Princess A likes remembering all the wonderful hand made costumes King Ralph's aunt and I constructed together each year.  She was always so adorable.  Now she constructs her own.  She also remembers the post Halloween candy rule: three pieces a day for two weeks then all sweet treats...poof, disappeared.  It didn't matter if they picked three full size candy bars or three mini Tootsie rolls--three was the magic number.  Believe me they picked carefully and wisely. When the girls got older and "wiser" they learned the art of sneaking.  Three turned into six.     

Well it's nine o'clock, I turned the ghoulish background music off after a total of fifteen goblins this year.  I got a "cool treat" from one kid, so I know I did good with my usual choice.  Still fifteen kiddos seems mighty lame for Halloween. 

Boy-oh-boy I miss how Halloween was when I was a kid!