An Old Fashioned Halloween

I remember trick or treating when I was a kid. We lived in a rural area where a block was 3 miles around up and down hills. Houses were far apart and street lights were rare. There were no sidewalks so we walked on the side of the road. We all had flashlights and were constantly shining them all around us to make sure the ghosts stayed in the cemeteries and the scarecrows stayed in the fields! Of course, the boys were always wandering off and then trying to scare us which wasn't too hard to do! We wore homemade costumes and carried brown shopping bags to hold the candy. Or sometimes we carried 1/2 pillowcase that had been sewed on the bottom. When we shouted "trick or treat", we were expected to do a "trick" of some kind before we received our "treat". The treat was usually homemade; popcorn balls, cupcakes, fudge, cider, peanut brittle - you get the idea. Nowadays, parents are warned to give out only store bought candy that is individually wrapped and no one asks for tricks to be performed before the treats are handed out. The parents are encouraged to take their children and their treats to the nearest center to have the candy x-rayed. What fun is that?

We NEVER waxed windows because we were warned by our parents of the severe consequences but we did use soap a few times. Much to our dismay we were usually caught and then had to clean the soap off. And we didn't get any treats!

Our legs always tired before we made it all the way around the block and we ended up calling one of our parents to pick us up. Needless to say, our pillowcases or bags were never full of treats but we always had so much fun that it didn't matter.

It was fun and scary; it was a time when our parents felt safe letting us walk around the long block in the dark of night without any parental chaperoning. It was a night when ghosts walked through the cemeteries, scarecrows moved through the fields, and bats followed us on our trek around the block!

A couple of years ago, I was visiting our daughter at Halloween and went out with her and our 2 small grandchildren. Of course, they were only interested in going to as many houses as they could to get as much candy as they could. I thought about my Halloween nights as a child and felt sad that the experiences I had would never be experienced by my grandchildren. A Halloween night of yesteryear was truly a special holiday.