Halloween brings back all sorts of memories for me. As I was going through pictures not too long ago, I stumbled across some of the first costume that I remember. I believe I was about 2 and it came in a box. Remember those days. Boxes lined the aisles of TG&Y and you could only see the mask from the cellophane window. This one was a lamb. It appeared to be made completely of plastic and was a jumpsuit. I'm sure it ripped the moment that I sat down in it.
I don't remember going trick-or-treating - other than to the few houses on our street. However, the bags of candy seem to state that we did go a few times. Our bags were always full of the dreaded orange and black candy. I still don't know what it was called, but it was always left in a pile for Mom.
I vaguely remember a Halloween party at my grandmother's house, but no details about it. My cousins were there I'm sure.
Over the years I don't remember many costumes that we bought in the store. One of the most hilarious pictures that we have of Halloween is of my brother and me. He was supposed to be a hobo - but for some reason he wore a sombrero. So, I guess he was a Mexican hobo. Mom used her black eye pencil to draw in a mustache and beard that year. I was supposed to be dressed as a princess, but the makeup job looked more like a prostitute. The outfit was complete with a tiara and pink plastic apron. Strange, I know.
There were a few years sprinkled in where our church hosted a fall festival. I believe my mother made me a Laura Ingells Wilder costume - the granny hat and long nightgown. It was lavendar flannel and I believe I used it for my pajamas on all those cold Louisiana nights.
Each Halloween night, we would pour our bags out on the living room floor and sort our candy - throw the opened pieces away, trade what we didn't like, and give mom the orange and black wrapped ones. There were a few years where it was common to get candy apples or caramel apples, but only from those people we knew. Those were always the coveted pieces.
As we went into high school, our Halloween's were replaced by Judgment House performances.
Now, as a teacher, I relish Halloween at school. My precious school is one of few that actually encourage dressing up, so my team and I make a big deal out of it. We begin planning costumes very early in the year. This year, we originally chose to be superheroes, but the ladies costumes were way to sexy for school. So, we went as nerds instead. We had a blast at Goodwill picking out costumes.
I enjoy seeing little kids in their costumes - especially my darling nieces, Sophie and Sadie. This year they are going to be insects - a ladybug and a bumblebee. They will gather for the annual Halloween chili feed and then the entire family will head out to trick-or-treat with the girls. Hate that I cannot be there, but look forward to seeing their pictures.
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