HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Hello to all... Just wanted to tell everyone out there in O H land "Happy Halloween"... I was always the "Halloween Mom" of the neighborhood when my kids were younger. We had the out of the normal halloween house on the block lol... My brother in law would run the kids out of the yard with a chain saw wearing a spooky mask and word got out before all the other trick or treaters would get there and they had a ball. I especially loved "all" the candy for sure. Lol... So will always have fond memories of Halloween. Now that I have two grandchildren it is still fun. We make cupcakes (sorry kix) lol, no not orange but chocolate and neon sprinkles on them. And cookies. Not sugar free so no I dont get to eat them... And we decorate the yard even though no lil ghoulies are coming around.But now that we live in the country there are no kids to come over because there not gonna walk that far for a piece of chocolate. Even though back in my day I would have walked through quick sand to get some. The other childhood memory I have of halloween is when my twin sister and I went trick or treating one year when we were about twelve I guess and the people werent home but had a huge bowl of "smarties" sitting at the front door and had a sign that said "take some and leave some for others"... Well.... Come on now... Twelve yrs old, candy, noone to see ya??? So we dumped the whole punch bowl in our bags and hauled butt... Needless to say even today I cant look at smarties without smiling and thinking about those days lol... So do any of you out there have any Halloween stories? Would love to hear them.... Happy Trick or Treat day!! Hugs Marge

Hi Marge, I love Halloween! We usually go to a Halloween party every year and I make our costumes, and we have a great time! My niece comes trick or treating at our house every year, and I've always given her gifts instead of candy, trying to be the good example for her. This year she's 5, so I got her a Halloween Barbie and the DVD Monster House. This is also our Great Danes favorite day of the year. We put a baby gate at the front door and leave the door open and let them great the kids, most all of the kids love them and our oldest Gunner has loved doing this since he was a puppy. He gets sorta sad when he sees me take down the gate and close the door. We get tons of kids coming to the house so I always load up on candy. In the past I'd get my very favorites, which of course was anything sweet! this year I asked my Mom to pick some candy up for me as we have been out of town. I saw it sitting on the table in a bag but didn't even bother looking to see what kind it was. I'm at a stage where nothing appeals to me right now, and I certainly won't be eating any candy. My favorite Halloween memory from childhood was the year my Mom sewed dalmation costumes for me and my brother (who's 5 years younger) she rarely sewed and the costumes were so darn cute! Jan

Cupcakes, yum! (insert Homer Simpson drooling noise) Halloween was always great fun when I was a kid. In those days, you could roam the streets freely without parents being worried about child abduction, so we had a blast! Also, school was pretty much a Halloween party all day long, with a costume parade around the neighborhood near school and nonstop sugar consumption thanks to the PTA and the room mothers. My friends and I would trick or treat in a five-mile radius from our houses, and when we collected a pillowcase full of candy, we'd go home, change into different costumes, and go out trick or treating again and collect a second pillowcase full of candy. We had enough candy at the end of the night to open our own candy store. When we were finally worn out, we'd go back to my house, where my mother had sloppy joes and orange Crush soda waiting for us. My friends always stayed overnight at my house on Halloween. While we were asleep, my dad would poach the Snickers bars out of everyone's stash! As for costumes, well, I was a weird kid who had strange ideas. I wasn't content to be a princess or a pirate.. One year, I was a time bomb. Another year, a toothbrush. Another year, I was a surfboard. The best costume I did was the year we'd studied the French revolution in school -- I dressed up as an executioner and my friend was the hapless victim, using what we'd learned in history class as our guide. We got really carried away with the makeup and even found a plastic ball and chain for my friend to wear around her ankle (hooray for KMart). Every house we went to that night commented on our costumes, and many people along the way made us stop and pose for pictures. I think adults have more fun on Halloween nowdays. It's just not the same for kids anymore. For example, when I lived in Olympia, WA, the kids either went to a Halloween carnival over at St. Martin's College, or they did something called, "Trunk or treat" where parents would set up in a parking lot and the kids would go from car to car to collect treats. How depressing is that? I'm glad I grew up in a time where kids didn't have every activity supervised by their parents. We don't get trick or treaters in our neighborhood. If any show up, they will end up egging the house because all I have to offer them are string cheese sticks. Kix