The Candy Haul. At least I could count on that.
This was supposed to be a post about my new kitchen cabinets.
We are well into week 14 of our eight week renovation.
Took this a little bit ago.
No can’t post today about cabinets.
So I’ll link up with the gals at Finish the Sentence Friday.
One Halloween, I . . .
Gosh. I really didn’t want to get introspective again after the last waiting room post.
If only the prompt were about Christmas. Fairy lights and crumpled wrapping paper.
Or Groundhog’s Day. Buck teeth and mounds of freshly turned earth.
I have issues with Halloween.
It celebrates evil. It is dark and creepy and certainly not a bastion of good dental health.
No silly. I like all that, except evil. Not really into that.
I love carving pumpkins into crooked men with crooked smiles. I love seeing the kids come by for candy.
My issue with Halloween is that as a child, it always fell short.
Like tumbling down the groundhog hole a mile shy of expectations.
Dreaming for weeks of the perfect costume. I was to be Cinderella. A Native American Princess. A vampire.
On second thought, the vampire look really worked. At least it worked for me that night in college.
A vampire. So ahead of my time. But back to Halloween shortfalls.
No matter how much planning. No matter how much dreaming.
The costume never worked.
It was just me in a light blue 1950s South Georgia bridesmaid’s dress I found rummaging through my mom’s storage closet. Not Cinderella.
Once a year, we would head out. Into the sauna that is Central Florida in late October.
This is gonna be soooo great.
It really wasn’t great. It was just me and my dad and my sister. No gang of reckless youths dashing here and there with wild Brady Bunch Alice-will-make-it-all-better in 30 minutes perfection.
It was stinking hot.
So sweaty, we would pull our masks off.
“Trick or Treat,” I’d say. A bit half-hearted because maybe the lady at the door was one of those purist who insisted that you say “trick or treat” before doling out the goods.
Holding out that orange bulb of a pumpkin.
Full of candy.
At least the candy was always good.
Yeah. At least the candy haul seemed to meet expectations.
What about you? Great Halloween memories or no?
The candy was truly always so good and as much as I have my own demons with Halloween costumes (as you read), I still love this holiday. Just something about it makes me so happy. I just can’t help myself I suppose. Thanks again for linking up with us and Happy early Halloween again!! 🙂
It is so funny that you talk about how hot it was for Halloween. We in NE Ohio were always freezing cold. In really bad years, I would get so disappointed that no one would see my costume because I had to wear a coat over it.
The candy was always worth it, though. Always.
I was ahead of myself too with the vampire costume. I remember my dad telling me I had to wear a coat to (ruin my costume) keep me warm.
Sorry your Halloweens were hard…I mostly remember them as fun but memories are so skewed, right?
I don’t ever remeber a warm Halloween, but it was always chilly and those darn coats ruined our costumes…it really stunk. Though I am glad I had parents who forced me to keep warm.
We were at WDW at beginning of October and they were having one of the Halloween parties when they close the parks that night. As we left, we saw all these kids trouping in. It was pretty hot. Seeing them brought it all rushing back.
Yes, they weren’t bad. They just weren’t great. I had them built up in my mind as it was going to be this incredible time. Maybe with lower expectations — my memories would be better.
Rain on Halloween is not good on the costume either.
I always over-anticipate, and am highly susceptible to being disappointed by less than awesome holidays/birthdays/parties. I am totally Clark Griswold in that way. Anti-climactic Halloweens are the worst. Happy you joined us again this week!
I went trick or treating once as a kid. We also didn’t do Halloween when I was growing up. Mainly because we were health nuts. I remember my grandmother made me a cape so that I could be dracula and my mom let me go. I did really have that much fun because I knew I couldn’t eat what we were collecting. BORING Living in the south it is RARE that it’s cold on Halloween. We got a cold front this week so our nights are cold but I bet it will be warm next week.
I’m not a big Halloween person but I do LOVE to make costumes… consequently I became a huge fan of the holiday when I had kids to make costumes for. I’ve made eagles, kitty cats, dinosaurs, princesses, good (and bad) witches, Ninjas, vampires, monsters… well, you get the picture. So much fun! And oh, I love chocolate too 🙂
So instead of “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” in this case it’s the weather. Growing up in MA, I remember having to put a snow suit on over my costume a couple of times. That really deflates the Halloween spirit in a flash! 🙁 But yeah, having lived in New Orleans for 13 years, I can imagine how miserable Halloween makeup and masks must have been in that climate. Heck, after a while, I was pretty much down to just eyeliner when it came to my “regular” makeup in the summer there. [#FTSF]
When we just had Jake, I used to make all his. Sharks, Oreo, Dinosaur. That’s one thing that dropped when the younger two came along. It was fun.
Wow. You only got to trick-or-treat once Kenya? I guess from my post — I should say you didn’t miss much. Do you eat candy now?
And then there I was all bundled up – sometimes in snow – in northeast Ohio. Isn’t that funny? While you were in a sauna in Florida! I remember the masks that would gather condensation and those little pumpkin candy containers. Great memories!
Halloween most definitely IS too short! I can remember that feeling as a kid and someone really ought to do something about that. That was how I felt my wedding night, too. I really wanted to wear that dress for the rest of the year. Although, in Florida it’s too hot to wear a wedding dress all the time:/. And, of course, thank God for the candy!
This is great. I don’t love the evil either. Which can be tough with little ones. Because evil is irresistible isn’t it? Well our Halloween promises to be freezing. I think I will be wishing for so hot we had to take our masks off 🙂
Hi! It was all about the candy for me – except for those horrid twisty wrapped chocolate kiss jobbies. They tasted like cardboard and were never, ever considered by my siblings as trade worthy.
My costume every year was a witch. Same mask every year. Until that year I went as “an average housewife.” Got LOTS of candy that year.
What a great costume. I loved to get those mini candy bars. They are everywhere nowadays. Yep. Those definitely were my favorite.
Yep. Linda. Most childhood memories develop gloss of . . . this was the best thing ever. Halloween — trick or treating — was not one of those things.
This was such an amazingly original take on the topic. I’ve enjoyed every word. Look forward to reading more (including cabinets).