I like to decorate for Halloween at the beginning of October. This involves removing some of the fall decorations I just set out a month before. Once Halloween is over I bring those decorations out again plus add the few Thanksgiving decorations I have. Those of you who know me are not surprised by this OCD behavior.
As a child I remember dressing up as a black cat, skeleton, ghost and Frankenstein complete with battery-operated red bolts at my neck. One year I trick or treated in a red devil outfit my cousin Danny had worn the year before. My choice of costumes verifies that I was a bit of a tomboy; no Cinderella or Minnie Mouse here.
We could hardly wait for the sun to go down and I don't ever remember being accompanied by an adult. I had older cousins and we went as a group. We traveled blocks from home. Of course this was eons ago and an entirely different time.
The variety of offerings we received ran the gamut. At one house we might be given a penny; at another an apple. My least favorite was a solitary walnut or peanut. I remember one old lady answering the door with a brown bag in her hand. She dipped a "teaspoon" into the bag and dropped a couple of kernels of popcorn into my trick or treat bag. I'll never forget that. My aunt and uncle's neighbor made peanut butter cookies each year and some people gave out popcorn balls. As I said this was a different time.
Sometimes we would be asked in by the person answering the door so their spouse could see our costumes. We would go in! I remember being a bit apprehensive but I did it anyway. This would be unheard of today. Luckily for us we only encountered good people.
After a couple of hours we trudged home, tired yet eager to look over our bounties. One year we were chased home by the neighborhood bullies, two brothers who lived on the next street. They were trying to steal our trick or treat bags. We made it to the safety of my Grandma's house goodies still in hand.
The first ten years in this house I baked a table full of cupcakes, cookies and pumpkin bread for family, friends and their children each Halloween. Some of my daycare parents would return with their children to participate in the festivities which included bobbing for apples. As the years passed the number of people attending my Halloween party declined and on year ten nobody came. When my friend Molly called to say she wasn't coming, I told her I wouldn't be doing it again. True to my word I didn't bake the next year. When my son Jordan and I returned from trick or treating the phone rang. It was Molly. She said you were serious about not baking weren't you? She and her children had come over and when no one answered the door she peeked through my dining room window and saw the bare table.
A few years ago I began hosting a different kind of party now that the children are grown. I bake a few goodies but the star of the event is a pot of garbanzo soup. It is my grandma's recipe and my mom, son, aunties, cousins and friends gather at my dining table to enjoy a meal that warms their tummies and the cockles of my heart.
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