“Tricks or treats comes only once a year!”

I’ve never been a huge fan of Hallowe’en.  I trick-or-treated with the other kids until I was about 10 years old, when I preferred to stay home and hand out the candies to the other kids.  I’d usually be wearing some Hallowe’en-appropriate little outfit, with orange earrings and a black necklace or something like that.

He-Man was big in ’86.  Note my dad, the clown, in the background.

Later on, when I was a teenager my mom and I would make a list of the various costumes that made their appearance at our door and the following year we’d read what we’d written last year, laughing at the things we’d written on the list.

There’s one tradition that absolutely has to take place, no matter what age I am, or where I’m living…and that is the annual viewing of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!”  A couple of years ago Graham bought me the Charlie Brown DVD set, so I’m well stocked when it comes to holiday Peanuts specials.

I may be a bit of a Hallowe’en scrooge at times, but watching “The Great Pumpkin” conjurs up some great childhood memories for me.  The smell of crisp autumn leaves, evening air and even the fresh, distinctive scent of a newly-carved pumpkin all come to mind.  The weekend before Hallowe’en we’d take a drive out to the country, the four of us (pre-divorce), to choose a pumpkin for carving.  When it came time, my dad would spread out a layer of newspaper on the concrete basement floor where we’d carve our pumpkins.

“You didn’t tell me you were gonna kill it!“

This year Graham and I both have to work on Hallowe’en, but I picked up some treats for the neighbourhood kids here and for some of the other little cuties I’ve come to know.  Tonight I dropped them off at the neighbours’ homes and they were so happy and surprised with their goodies, I think I might just have made up for the other years when ours was the cold, dark, pathetic, pumpkin-less house on the street.

Happy Hallowe’en to all of you heading out with your little darlins’ tomorrow night.  I’m putting virtual Kraft caramels in your pillowcases!

Be Sociable, Share!

•