Halloween's Past and Present

Freddy's Family with Uncle Bob & Aunt Judy
Jonathan being greeted by Grammy
Emily
Penny
Freddy's Daniel
Annie's Garrett and Emily, Freddy's Penny
Annie's little Garrett Elmo
Twins scary masks
Come in my pretty...

Bob and I were chatting about Halloween's past and how we would dress. It's different today! Parents purchase all manner of paraphernalia to get the costumes just right. Bob and I, and our siblings, would make our costumes...sometimes out of paper grocery sacks. Usually my brothers were Indians, or hobos, or cowboys, and my sister was often a gypsy. I remember being done up as a black mammy, complete with face paint, lipstick, a rayon 50's navy blue dress with white polka dots, and a red bandana tied around my head and shiny gold hoop earings. And as unbelievable as that may sound, I wasn't the only one dressed that way at the school carnival parade. Later, we would raid Dad's closet and put on a white dress shirt and a tie, blue jeans, and I would dress like a "teenager" of the 50's... that may not seem so unusual, except that it WAS the fifties, and that IS how teenagers dressed then! Then we'd take our paper grocery sacks and head out to the sidewalks and with THRONGS of kids go door to door, WITHOUT our parents. Our older brother and sister would head out and not stay with us... then when we got home (LATE, because you couldn't trick or treat until it turned dark outside), our candy would all be spilled out on the living room floor and the older siblings would take their favorite candy from us. We didn't mind--and we got it all eaten in just a few days. Oh how I wish there had been pictures taken!

There were many neighbors who did the most amazing haunted houses, and we would be terrified to go up to the door. Some neighborhood Halloween parties took place as well and they included bobbing for apples, noisemakers, candy, and apple cider. Later in the 70's and 80's Fred would always have our youth groups put on "Un-Haunted" houses, and Harvest parties to be sure we think of Fall as a time of bounty, harvest, and God's supply. During our early Colorado years, we went on lots of hay rides, and soon after starting at Arizona Bible College, we hiked out in the desert one Halloween with our fellow students and sat along a brick wall that was a ruin...it was very scary, complete with one student getting bit by a white tarantula and she had to be taken to the hospital!

This year, I look at how Halloween is celebrated with our kids--it's clearly different than when we were young, but the basics are the same--little kids dress up in costumes and go trick or treating. I couldn't help but wish I could have seen Isaac's kids in their little Alaska community doing their thing (I'll post their pictures when I get them...) but we had so much fun with Annie's and Freddy's families coming over for the traditional chili soup supper and then heading out for the various stops they have to make to visit grandparents and families and friends on both sides of their families.

One of the stops is to Uncle Bob and Aunt Judy's for the scary stories Aunt Judy tells and then Uncle Bob always disappears and then comes out at the appropriate point in the story dressed to SCARE! I decided to dress up as the wicked queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and show up at Bob and Judy's and ring the doorbell. It was a blast and fun to completely surprise everyone. Here are some of the photos...