Monday, October 27, 2008

Demons BeGONE

Six Haunting Halloween Memories

  1. There was the year I decided to be a cat. (198?) I wore black tights and a black leotard. What to do for accessories?--no problem: got some black construction paper, cut 2 triangles out for ears and taped them to my head. Next, borrowed my mom's eyeliner and penciled in some whiskers on my face. Lastly, cut a piece of black yarn and taped it to my rear-end. Voila--ready to strut next to the pretty princesses in the school parade.


  2. Another year (198?) I decided to be a traditional Japanese woman. I painted my face white, my mom had the perfect red silky robe--that must have been my inspiration. I put my thin short hair into a bun the best I could and inserted some chopsticks. The only thing left was to spray paint my hair black. What happens when you mix black with toe-head white??? GRAY. So, again, ready to march in the school parade next to the supermans and storm troopers. I felt pretty discouraged after the fifth person said, "What ARE you? an old lady?"
  3. When all else failed (198? and '8?) I could be a rock-star. Rat up that short blonde hair, use the eyeliner ,again--this time for a beauty mark (think, Madonna), and wear a jean skirt with shirt tied in a knot. Then put a coat over all of it because it would be so dang cold outside nobody would even know I was wearing a costume.

  4. There was the year (198?) my mom said she was giving out the BEST TREAT EVER--so good she wouldn't tell me what it was. I had to convince my friends it would SO be worth walking all the way down my dark street to get. We knocked on the door and my mom answered with a big box of old, used-up kids books--MY old used up kids books. "Hey kids, pick out a book"-- Oh the humiliation.
  5. My up the street and around the corner neighbor was famous with all trick-or-treaters because he gave out regular sized candy bars!!! and if you could answer some trivia about his family--you could earn more than one!!! Lucky me, we were neighbors so except for knowing the middle names of his children I was still able to walk away with a few big candy bars! SCORE! (If he didn't know you, or couldn't answer any questions, you walked away with a dum-dum.) Well, there I was at the pinnacle of my candy-gathering, pillow-case bursting maximum, when a too-old-to-be-trick-or-treating teenager came over and demanded I give him my bag. My little knees wobbled--this had to be a joke, right? No-- he took it and then took off! I hope he's somewhere repenting in sackcloth and braces for his cruelty.


  6. I did have one succesful year which seems like a good one to end on. My big brother (who did a few nice things for me growing up) actually MADE me a robot costume. It was awesome--constructed out of cardboard boxes, lined with tinfoil. It even had a cut-out slot I could open up to put my candy in. -- The first time I was truly proud to march in the school parade but I think that I wasn't even old enough to be in school that year. It was a good one-- 198?-something.


There you have it , I've excercised my Halloween demons from the '80's. It's about time! Now I feel ready for another year of spooks. There's nothing like the C. family Halloween party to get you in the spirit (see previous post) and a good ol' trip to the local pumpkin patch. ( see our version here http://www.sliceofpihomeschooljournal.blogspot.com/ ) That's the good stuff.

You won't see me in cool costume this year, or any costume for that matter. But, my kids will be dressed up (only slightly better than I was) and ready for the school parade--oh yeah, we do homeschool.

3 comments:

TisforTonya said...

Darn those evil teenagers and their sugar obsessed thievery! T is whining daily about what to do on Halloween now that he is a too old teenager... we shall have to be sure he is aware of the restriction against grand theft candy!!!

You had some fun costumes - and now I know that I should not embarrass my children by giving away their old books!

cold cocoa said...

Good memories. I am feeling disturbed by the mean teen and wish you would have said NO and kicked him...but I doubt you had self-defense lessons and he was probably wearing one of those chuckie masks, right?

Megz said...

WOW. You had some exciting nights. I think it's a little funny that you went trick or treating at your own house though....