The Spirit of Halloween Past
In my 38 Halloweens, I have had some very memorable ones. They were fun, spooky, scary and all are etched in my mind.
The first Halloween I remember, I was quite small. I don't know my age, but I wasn't in school yet. Mom took me and my sister to H.W. Woolworth's five and dime. Back when they really were called five and dimes. I remember trying to hold in my glee when I saw the entire isle of costumes. It was so hard to pick just one. I don't remember what my sister chose. I chose to be Casper the Friendly Ghost. That cartoon was popular on TV at that time.
I can still smell the plastic of the mask, as I slid it on. I could barely see out of the eyes, but I didn't care. I soon had on the suit that came with the mask. There I was, an adorable Casper. Mom brought me to my Grandmother's house, so we could show off our costumes. She squealed and pretended she was really scared. We were so proud.
As I got older, and was in school, Halloween had many great meanings. The day before our Grandparents took us to get a huge pumpkin. We would take forever to choose just the right one. It had to be the biggest and best.
In Holy Cross, the school I went to, We always went all out for Halloween. Grades K-5 would dress up in their costumes, and had a parade. The upper classes, grades 6-8, would make a huge circle. The costumed kids would parade around, inside the circle. The older kids would pick a best costume for each grade. There was the prettiest, the scariest, and the most original. I don't remember ever winning, but it was always loads of fun. After the parade we would all have Halloween parties in our classrooms.
At Home, when the streetlights went on, it was time to go trick or treating. There was always a big group of us. At least three families. Our moms followed close behind, while we went door to door. There were so many kids in our neighborhood, we sometimes had to wait in line to get to the doors.
There was one house on our street, that was transformed into a haunted house. They did a terrific job, too. We had to go through the "haunted" house before we got our treats. No one was scared enough to pass it up. That was the most popular house within a mile in any direction. Kids would have their parents drive them there. Just to go to the haunted house.
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