Published: November 06, 2007 08:16 am      

Halloween is different than when I was a kid

I was just thinking the other day about Halloween. We just observed Halloween a few days ago, and I was reminded, as I’m sure many of my readers were, about how they and their family enjoyed it. It is a lot different today.

Nancie and I love to greet the children who come to our door for “trick-or-treat.” Nancie actually makes some pretty elaborate preparation. This year, she bought some large plastic drinking cups that were decorated for Halloween. She filled each cup with candy of different kinds. She was very careful to make sure each cup was exactly the same. When I questioned that, she explained that in case siblings got home and began to look through the cups, she didn’t want one to have more that the other. Of course, all the candy was pre-wrapped.

This was the 23rd Halloween Nancie and I have enjoyed in our neighborhood. The youngsters who came to our door in the early years have grown up, married and moved away. There are just not as many boys and girls in our neighborhood, so we have fewer knocks at our door every year. One young man who grew up in our neighborhood has married and come back to the neighborhood. In fact, he bought the house next door to the one he grew up in. We got to treat his two precious little girls.

Nearly every youngster wore a costume that had come from a store. One beautiful young lady had a lovely costume her Mom had made for her.

During my childhood years, every kid in our neighborhood was out on Halloween. I remember it as being different than it is today. First of all, it was extremely rare for anyone to have a “store bought” costume. We dressed in clothes that belonged to someone else in our home. My brother and I always wore something that was Dad’s, and several sizes too big. We tried to be as tacky as we could. I don’t remember ever having a mask. A few in the neighborhood had masks from the O & L Dime Store a few blocks away. There were sidewalks in our area and that made things safer.

The treats we received were of different kinds. Some came form the store, but many others were homemade. The only pre-wrapped candy we got were lollipops. I can remember reaching into a large bowl and helping myself to jelly beans, gum drops, chocolate drops, etc. We were usually told how many to take, and in most cases we handled several more than we actually took.

I remember going to the door of neighbors, whose son was one of my best friends. They had prepared popcorn balls, and had them in two large wash tubs. We were told we could have two, so we handled numerous ones to find the ones we really wanted. We were looking for the largest ones.

I don’t ever remember a child becoming ill because of the germs that were spread with the handling of the treats. There were always a few, especially those who ate too much, who had upset stomachs.

We would knock on the door or ring the doorbell, and when someone answered, we’d yell, “trick-or-treat.” I can’t ever remember being tricked, but I certainly remember the treats.

My dad loved to be the one to answer the door at our house. He actually knew nearly every youngster who came to the door. He enjoyed calling them by some outrageous name he’d make up, and always spent a bit of time teasing with them before he handed out the treats.

I honestly wonder, do today’s youngsters enjoy Halloween as much as my generation did?

Trivia answer

Pound for Pound, wood is stronger than steel. This answer is according to a book I have. My friend Glenn Adams called and discussed this trivia question with me and he insists this is not accurate, but the natural thing that is stronger than steel is actually a spider web. Do any others of my readers have an opinion or knowledge about this? It would be disastrous for incorrect information to be spread from this “intellectually stimulating” column.

Trivia question

What is the origin of the word limelight?

Thought for the day

Live your life, so that when you die, the preacher won’t have to tell lies at your funeral.

— From a T-shirt