BOO!

I always hated Halloween. First, I was a big scaredy cat. I was scared of ghosts and skeletons and bad boys. When we were young, one house down the street always had a sheet ghost up in their tree and the dad would drop it down when kids came to their house. I NEVER trick or treated there!! There were a couple of mean old ladies on our block too. One just scooped up a big spoonful of candy corn and then shook it back and forth until about three were left and then dumped that in your bag! Talk about a letdown. The other mean lady who on every other day would bite your head off if you even got a toe on her grass made the best cookies on earth! She generously passed those out and was real nice but on November 1st she was back to her mean old self.
One year, my mom made me a princess outfit. It was really pretty but scratchy because the sleeves were made out of nylon net with silver glitter on it. My arms itched so bad I can still remember it! In sixth grade, for some reason, all the girls were going to be cigarette girls. I know, isn't that funny? Some of you may not even know what that is. It was the woman who sold cigarettes and cigars from a little tray she carried around her neck. She worked in clubs and restaurants. My mother said absolutely not and she made me be the knave of hearts instead. I had to carry this date and nut tart that she made(and I hated) so I pulled it off in little pieces during the Halloween parade and threw it in the grass around the parking lot! I know she thought I ate it.
As a teacher, Halloween was a dreaded day. Kids were so overexcited and of course the party didn't start until the end of the day. Except in Kindergarten....lucky me, I got two parties. One year I dressed as a giraffe as I had found a really cool mask on vacation at the San Diego Zoo. The kids were pretty freaked out. I even put black socks over my hands to be hooves..I think that's what got to them the most. For a little while, I think they thought I might be real!
My own kids had some cool costumes and last night we had some good laughs reminiscing about them. My daughter always wanted to be a pretty pretty princess or ballerina or something pretty. My son was a myriad of things including a spy and Where's Waldo. I never thought I made very good costumes but they loved them. That made me feel good.
We used to stay home and pass out the best candy we could find but after three years of only 2 or 3 trick or treaters came to our house, we now just go out to dinner. So, it's Italian night for us--a real treat!!