Sunday, October 29, 2006
DECORATING FOR HALLOWEEN
Don't know if it's a trend or not, but this year there were not as many houses decorated for Halloween. Oh, a couple had the creepy stuff like front yard cemetaries and gruesome things hanging from tree limbs, but mostly those who did decorate had lots of pumpkins--straight from the field with no embellishment, the carved kind with a big grin, the fake kind that are large and lightweight for their size, and the blow-up kind with two or three inflatable pumpkins staked up, or a large one with smiling ghosts popping out. Where I live, pumpkins were the decorator's accessory of choice. It was a nice change, and a lot closer to the aspect of Halloween the majority of us would like to keep--the kid part with costumes and candy.
Beggers were down last night, probably because of the weather. Trick-or-Treat began at 6:30 and lasted until 8. By 7:15 there were long lulls between doorbell rings. By 7:50 there wasn't a person in sight upstreet or down. Normally we need 100 or more pieces of candy. Last night we passed out 51. Which means that there was a bowlfull left. Yes, I meant to say "was." There is still a kid inside of all of us, I guess. A kid who should know better!
My husband took charge of the door, and I was happy to let him do it. Sitting on the porch watching the kids run around is good entertainment. Having your TV program interrupted 51 times is something else.
My mother always enjoyed Begger's Night when I was growing up. Usually she made donughts, and costumes come to mind whenever I think of them. But there were a couple of years when she couldn't resist getting into the spirit of things. The first year I didn't go out for candy--age 13--I put on a costume anyway and manned the door. She went down to the basement to take the laundry off the clotheslines, or so I thought. Once I went down to tell her something or other, and that was what she was doing. Then there was this very weird Beggar. He had a bag over his head with eyes cut out, the strangest collection of clothing that looked vaguely familiar, a pillowcase for a treat bag. He didn't talk, just kept shaking the pillowcase for more candy. I got the impression he was angry with the candy I dropped in. He scared the heck out of me.
As soon as I knew he was gone, I ran downstairs to tell mom about him. She should have been disturbed and come upstairs to be sure everything was ok. For some reason she didn't do that, and sent me back up to the door. I can't remember when she finally told me she was the angry beggar. She had dressed up in her "costume" and gone out the basement door and around the house to the front door. After she got her pieces of candy, it was all she could do to get back inside and out of the costume before I came down the stairs scared. She was still laughing about her little joke when she was eighty.
Then there was the year she donned another crazy costume get-up complete with paper bag and held a note in her hand that read "I want to use your bathroom." I drove her to her sister's house across town and parked out front to watch the action. First she showed the note to my uncle at the front door. My uncle called his wife who shook her head "no!" Then she went to the side door and got herself told off properly by my aunt who was not intimidated by brazen Beggars. Another good story for the eighties. She never did let her sister live that one down.
(Isn't this time change wonderful. I have a whole extra hour to waste at the computer!)
