The Halloween of My Youth

I don't get that excited for Halloween. Now that I have kids of my own that love Halloween, I try, but it was never really a big deal for me. We were talking about Halloween's of our youth the other day at work. Let me tell you about mine.

My mom was not creative - at all. That's fine. I am not either (although now I know who I get - or don't get- it from). Back then, you didn't buy nice costumes. Most of my friends' moms made their costumes. They had the best homemade costumes. I was always so jealous.

You want to know the kind of costume that I had?? Yep, those plastic ones that TIED around your neck and had the masks with the small little holes for the mouth and eyes. Oh yeah, and they had that wonderful rubber band thing that went around your head. I think that one year I was a plastic Wonder Woman. Since I live where it's usually freezing on Halloween, it was always tied on over my poofy winter coat. Come on, you know the kind of costume I am talking about....

Then, my mom didn't believe in going to houses of people you didn't know. In our neighborhood at the time, there were a lot of rentals, so there were people always moving in and out. We didn't know very many people. We got to go to about five houses. To make up for that, my mom then took us to the nursing home trick or treating.

I have NOTHING against nursing homes and now that I am older, I realize that the people that lived there probably totally loved seeing us kids come through. When you are only about 6 or 7 though, a nursing home can be a scary place.

I don't fault my mom for any of this either, I would like to say. My mom is the best and she just did what she thought was best for us.

My kids have very different Halloweens than I did. They have very nice costumes (do they even make those plastic ones anymore????). We go trick or treating all over. They enjoy themselves tons. I am glad - it makes me happy to see them have so much fun.

Anyway, what were your Halloween's like?