i remember hiding in the evergreen at the corner of our yard draped in a white sheet ready to swing down and yell 'Boo!' at the first trick-or-treater that passed by. i remember riding bicycles through the snowstorm over to one of dad's employee's home on the other side of town just to say trick-or-treat (and hello) simply for the adventure with my dad. we got tootsie pops, slipped and slid our way home, then made pancakes for dinner. i remember the excitement of being a ballerina for the classroom party in kindergarten only to have the homemade tutu be so snug it couldn't even slip up over my little knobby 6 year old knees and my mom's swift solution (enter heroine) to make me into the cutest little cowgirl you ever did see out of the dress up bin. i remember turning out all the lights and sneaking around the house from kitchen to living room so nobody would come knocking on our door and when they did giggling at our mischievous ignoring of such knock. there are great memories of halloween growing up to no set tradition.
i feel delighted to have passed on this tradition of no tradition. every year has been different in one way or another regarding the way we have participated or not in celebrating halloween. there have been dress up bin, homemade, store bought and no costumes at all. there has been trick-or-treating, small town halloween store front walks, cosmic bowling or a movie at home. this year we went to one little costume gathering with a few friends with close to no photos. tonight in celebration (or not) we are hunkering down at home for a viewing of roald dahl's Matilda, some halloween inspired food ('finger'ling potatoes, oranges,ect...), lights out and the first fire in our wood stove of the season. it's a path like no other, but it's our path and we love it.
have a safe, fun night this hallowed eve on whatever path you may (or may not) choose!
strangely, we had no traditions growing up and often had the same fun you mention... scaring each other, making caramel popcorn, and grabbing dress up stuff for costumes. one year we even trick or treated at our house only (my mother pretended to be someone different each time we came up the sidewalk to the door)! now, my kids love doing the same exact thing "we always do". eating at our favorite pizza joint and heading up the same streets until we are either too tired or too cold. matilda is such a great watch...!
ReplyDeleteone of the best thing we did with our homeschooling friends back in the day was to do a history costume party. we always did it around the time of halloween. the kids would research someone from history and then dress like the character. at the party each child would get up and answer yes or no questions about who they were and the others would try and guess. we had great food and skipped "school" that day, it was really tons of fun! i so love our blog and all the wonder you create.
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