Spooked!

I really hate Halloween. I am such a scaredy cat. I hate those Haunted House things that are so popular. I know they are just folks but I don't want the you know what scared out of me, thank you very much. I don't understand why some people like that.

I even read an article about one Haunted place where one of the actors chased a woman to her car with some kind of weapon. Really! How does that equate fun?

When I was a kid, I never had a great Halloween. I was the kid whose bag broke or whose costume tore. In spite of this, I do have some good trick or treat memories.

One year, when I was in about sixth grade I borrowed a mask and got on my knees by the front door of our house and tricked my mother into thinking I was a little kid. I even said," Twick or Tweat." She fell for it.

I remember an old lady on our street who gave out candy corn. She would scoop a giant spoon into a bowl and then shake it and shake it and finally spill it into your waiting bag. It would go from a gigantic spoonful to a few kernels before she dropped it. I think she was a witch. The meanest couple on our street always were really really nice on Halloween. Maybe they were some kind of goblins. She always made cookies.

Now, kids, things were different then. Don't ever accept unwrapped candy or cookies or an apple from somebody you barely know or don't know at all. Get your cookies from your mom or your auntie. Things are just not the same.

When I was in third grade my mom made me a princess dress with nylon net sleeves that had glitter on them...boy, did they itch. Then in the fifth grade, she made me be the knave of hearts and I even carried one of her date nut tarts which I demolished(and I don't mean I ate it) during the Halloween parade. In the sixth grade, all the girls wanted to be cigarette girls. How funny is that? And they were too. Funny, I don't remember if I was one or not but I do remember begging.

As a grown up I never had any great costumes. Once, I went as a bag of garbage and my husband was a bag of leaves. I even found a chenille bee on a wire to attach to my head. One year at school, I dressed up as a little boy with a black eye and a baseball cap. I'm sure I drove everyone crazy with my "Gus Gesing" get up. I also had a giraffe mask that I got at the San Diego zoo and I wore that for a few years. It scared my kids to death.

Now we go out on Halloween and don't do the trick or treat thing anymore. We did it for so many years but we hardly get any kids here so I don't bother. Can't say I miss it either.

After all , it is just an excuse to get candy and scare people, isn't it?

BOO!

Scared you didn't I??