Friday, October 26, 2007

The magic of Halloween

I know many don't celebrate Halloween for one reason or the other.

I love Halloween, not for what it symbolizes but for the simple reason it is the one day of the year where I can be a kid once again...dress up and become a zombie, decorate my home along with my children and have fun...see the kids faces when I drop those goodie bags in their Halloween sack.

I spend about two hours, spraying and teasing my long hair to stand upright...about three cans of spray later my hair is as stiff as can be. And yes, when it's time to wash that sucker I do regret it. But I wouldn't do anything different because I am having such a blast and this is what Halloween means to me.

Fun...FUn...FUN!

There is a scarier side to Halloween with all the nutcases out there and I make sure to visit the homes of neighbours I've known for a long time. Many of my friends host Halloween parties to make sure the kids have fun in a safe environment. There are communities now who have their own 'block parties' and invite the children and parents to visit and join in the fun.

What about your side of the world? How does your neck of the world celebrate Halloween?

Lea Schizas
PS Our upcoming monthly discussions are:

November: NaNoWriMo

DECEMBER: Time for those New Year’s Resolutions –

JANUARY: Sidewalk Sales: are you a habitual ‘sales’ buyer?

7 comments:

kjo said...

Hey Lea,
Here's how I used to get my long hair to stand upright on Halloween. I braided it from the back with my head down (so the braid went up). Then I bent a hanger, so it had a loop about the size of an orange in one end and straightened the other end. I ran it through my braid, along with the rubber band I had at each end of the braid. The loop was secured to the back of my head by tying a bandanna around my head, concealing it completely. And no sticky stuff!!! Have fun either way, kel

Donna McDine said...

Our family loves it when October arrives. We always decorate the front yard two ways...one side of the driveway is a harvest theme and the other a scray theme. We always host Thanksgiving so the harvest theme works for two months. The girls always love to dress up and this year my older daughter is going off with her friends to a different neighborhood...with parental supervision from one of the other mother's. This is going to be hard for me...but I guess I need to loosen the apron string just a little bit. Downtown (small town feel to the avenue...newly revitalized) this year is having the stores give out candy this year...so my other daughter and I will be joining other friends to trick or treat. I remember the days that popcorn in baggies was a treat and using pillow cases as trick or treat bags. Warm regards, Donna McDine

Lea Schizas - Author/Editor said...

Kel, I wish I knew you a long time ago to have saved me the trouble of all that hairspray. :)

thank you

Lea Schizas - Author/Editor said...

Donna, I remember the pillow cases and guess what, my kids used pillow cases also. They were stronger, no chance of breaking and splattering all that good candy mommy was waiting to get her hands in. :)

Lea Schizas - Author/Editor said...

From Amber:

Halloween has never been a big holiday for me, even as a kid. Perhaps
it has something to do with the fact that I always had to use hand-me-
down costumes, chosen by my mother, that almost never fit.

In those days, we used to take pillowcases with us trick-or-treating
and actually fill them! (Also, in those days, homemade cookies,
apples, and muffins were part of the bootie -- I know, I know, I'm
ancient.)

Anyway, my brothers stole most of my candy unless I hid it someplace
where even I usually forgot about it until I was looking for a place
to stash the next year's candy.

When my children were little, Halloween was more fun. And the best
fun I've had was when we lived in a community where whole
neighborhoods were shut down to traffic that night. It was like a
giant block party, with goblins and fairy princesses roaming the
streets. People had coffee and cookies for the adults, candy for the
kids, and some of the yards had the most amazing Halloween displays!
It was like being at Disneyland.

These days, I hardly remember that Halloween is occurring, grabbing a
bag of candy last-minute at the grocery store and hoping I have
enough to outlast the kids (but not so much that I end up eating it
all).

Book Lady: Linda Jo Martin said...

Sounds like you guys are having fun for Halloween. I live so far out in the woods that nobody comes to our door, and my youngest is 17 so while he'll probably go into town and hit up a few houses for candy, I really don't have any way to participate with him. This year I'm working at the Pizza House on Halloween, so I might dress up for that - but I don't have anything planned yet. My co-worker wants to dress up as the Pillsbury Dough-Lady.

Lynn Cahoon said...

Not a big one for Halloween. Work is going crazy over it so my team is going as Famous Cheaters. I'm martha stewart so I need a prison outfit and fake flowers, no need to be drab even in the most extreme circumstances. The problem is I haven't started. LOL