I’m not a very nostalgic person. I don’t “long for the old days” very often. When my kid’s hear me say, “Back when I was a kid,” it it usually to highlight how much things have changed, not to express a longing for the old days. Sure, there were some things better back then, and life without technology, microwaves and dishwashers does seem a little primeval now.
One topic that gets me a bit nostalgic is Halloween. The way it has evolved has sucked some of the magic out of the day. (To those Halloween haters out there, you may as well stop reading now – you aren’t going to like this.)
This morning, as I was refusing to acknowledge that it was time to get out of bed, I was reminiscing about what made Halloween special to me as a kid. The irony is, depending on where you live, some of these things might still be your reality.
During the week before Halloween, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, ” would air on TV. Once. And usually at some inconvenient time like 6:00pm on a Tuesday. If you missed it, you missed it. There were no DVRs, no DVDs, no Netflix. You had one shot a watching it, and if you missed it, you had another shot It made it special. (The laws of supply and demand work for entertainment, too.)
I remember wearing my costume to school, and having a parade and a party. It was so much fun to see everyone together dressed up – teachers included. In some areas, Halloween is now forbidden. (My son just told me that at his school, the teachers are supposed to dress up, but the kids aren’t allowed to. His words: “That is so dumb!” I agree.)
Growing up in Bountiful, I remember the many times that winter tried to make an appearance and ruin our trick-or-treating fun. There were many times where my cool costume was covered up by a lousy coat – just because Mom said so. I can still hear and feel the crunch of the thin layer of frozen snow on the neighbor’s front lawn that we weren’t supposed to walk on.
Gathering with friends – or siblings – and hitting the neighborhood to trick-or-treat was one of the best nights of the year. The holiday was more kid-centric: Less gore, less grown-up. Less sleazy.
I remember being asked to perform some sort of “trick” for our treat – usually we would just nervously laugh and stand there with our bags out. Not just bags, mind you, but pillowcases. We got so much candy that I sometimes wonder if my brain isn’t amplifying the memory. But, then I look at photo albums and am proven right – we got a LOT of candy. Sure, there was always the lame popcorn ball or – even worse – an insulting toothbrush. But the candies weren’t tiny fragments – they were full on fun-size. And there were four SweetTarts in a sleeve.
As many of you did, and maybe still do, we would come home and dump our respective bounties on the family room floor, and begin the sorting process. It was a thing of beauty. It was a study in accounting and geometry. And then the trading would begin. (For the record – there is no amount of Bit o’ Honeys that can trade for a single Milky Way.)
The other tastes that I associate with the season are chili, glazed donuts, apple cider and roasted pumpkin seeds. (Remember, this was back in the days before pumpkin was stuffed into every recipe for a couple months every year.)
Just by the cruel irony of the calendar, Fast Sunday always seemed to follow Halloween. Not that Fast Sunday, or Church, impeded candy consumption… Yes, I’m talking to you.
Halloween is still great, but current trends make me a bit wistful for the old days. Yesterday, I read that decomposing jack-o-lanterns are causing global warming. (I’m not making this up – here is the link)
I see signs in front of dentists offices offering candy buy-back programs, and articles telling parents how to implement candy buy-back programs with their kids. The logic befuddles me – turning trick-or-treating into a revenue stream? Heresy. Talk about stripping the innocence and the joy out of a kid’s childhood. Like a couple days of candy consumption is going to destroy a family’s healthy eating habits the rest of the year.
Indoor tricky-or-treating, trunk-or-treats? Blech. Yes, I know in some areas that is the only thing that works: Not everywhere is safe, and not everywhere has the requisite load of kids to make trick-or-treating work, or, some just don’t want their kids out roaming the streets. Stranger danger! (My good sense restrains me from taking this any further, for fear of retribution from mobs of angry helicopter parents.)
Anyway…enough rambling. I still like Halloween. Other than while I was on my mission, I have carved a pumpkin ever year since I was tiny – and scraped the guts out of countless more, because I’m the only one in the family who seems to be able to do it. Still.
Some people will go off on the pagan originations of Halloween. If that is what you want to focus on, be my guest. I would rather follow the admonition of Paul:
“Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even theirmind and conscience is defiled.” (Titus 1:15)
I stand by my annual rant that Halloween is the most charitable day of the year – millions of people give something of value to complete strangers, expecting nothing in return. That is charity.
Happy Halloween, from this old-timer.
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OMGosh! I must be old too. I sooooooo remember all the things you mentioned and I loved Halloween as a kid. We DID have a lady on the next street over that made awesome popcorn balls. They were the real prize in our pillowcase. So many young parents I know prefer the trunk-or-treat to trick or treat because they think it will somehow harm their child to go door to door in the neighborhood. They have that choice but I love the memories and the things we shared with other kids in the neighborhood on that magical night. I hope I helped my children make their own memories of trick or treating too. And, I’m sure they will remember the year we had snow flurries while they walked through the neighborhood. Yes, if you missed the Charlie Brown great pumpkin, you had to wait until next year. The other two TV specials that were not to be missed: The Wizard of Oz and Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Great childhood memories.
I hang a sign on my door that says, “You’re never too old to knock on the door and ask for free candy!”
😉 just to play devil’s advocate: not only may it be the most charitable day of the year, it is also the most deceitful (deliberately portraying ourselves as someone we’re not) and entitled (expecting something for nothing, and van loads of kids being dropped off in the wealthy neighborhoods) day of the year.
The charitable-ness is something we can control within ourselves. We can’t control what others do. (Just like life)
I miss the sincere pumpkin patches. It seems hypocrisy has crept into every area of our lives.
I LOVE HALLOWEEN, I still carve pumpkins, like you chili, crisp picked apples, glazed donuts, cider and strangely enough, the smell of ketchup (they always used it in every ward spook alley) scream October to me. After I married my husband I found that living on military posts took Halloween to a whole new fun level. I have nothing but happy memories of this holiday, always shared with family and friends except for the year my mom made me a pig costume. That was also the year that I was too afraid to go through the spook alley too. I don’t like the sexy costumes and gore fest that has become a part of this holiday but I don’t have to include it in my celebration. I’m handing out Snickers, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Mounds, Milky Ways and my fav, Baby Ruths.
Ahh this is so refreshing. every bit.
I love you. Your ability to see the good in things is refreshing. With your perspective on Halloween as the most charitable day of the year, you may have converted this Halloween Debbie downer into a fan. Good job.
I’m a teacher and I like Halloween. It’s exhausting and fun. And most schools that have cancelled Halloween for safety reasons or because administrators don’t want to lose instructional time not because teachers don’t want to celebrate….but my school has the parade and parties and pumpkin carving contests and our 3rd graders did a music program. Trick or treating seems a lot like you describe it…but I live in UT, so that’s probably part of why. And while I definitely think some candies are better than others (for me, Reeses and Snickers are faves), I agree that giving candy (of any kind…whatever fits that family’s budget) is charitable.
About the fun size candy- we used to say “what’s so fun about that?” But compared to the mini’s, those fun size are looking pretty fun now!
My sister teaches 5th grade and everything she does on Halloween-reading, math etc. has a Halloween or fall theme, otherwise they don’t pay attention she says!
Amen, brother! I love Halloween, always have. It’s what you make it. My traditional Halloween meal: homemade sloppy joes, glazed donuts, and apple cider. BTW I’ll take those Bit O’ Honeys 🙂
growing up, the only part of Halloween I disliked was that my birthday fell on Halloween. If you think that would be really cool, you have not thought it all the way through. And, for the record, I dislike current Halloween behaviors as much as anyone.
My mom was a school teacher, which meant Halloween was the worst day of the year. She hated the whole day at school – Hyped kids, costumes, class parties…and then came home to kids wanting help with costumes and a ride around town to trick or treat. It was always a disappointment that she wasn’t into it AT ALL. I was so surprised when my oldest child had none of the fun stuff at school on Halloween that I remember. No reason is given, but I’ll bet the teachers had something to do with the ban on costumes & parties.
Why is it that kids these days can’t scrape out the inside of their jack-O-Lantern like we did when we were kids? Are we just being too easy on them by helping out?
We are doing a grave disservice. I still help them eat their candy.
Experiencing a bit of cognitive dissonance between ‘millions of people giving away something of value’ and the weird crap my kids later find in their Halloween haul including: raisins, pencils, Dum dums with suprise flavors like ‘Popcorn’, carrot sticks, dental floss, pudding cups, anything from the Necco factory, and b̶l̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶l̶i̶c̶o̶r̶i̶c̶e̶ Tootsie rolls.
And gum. There is a special list I have for neighbors who distribute those Pepto-Bismol pink pellets of Dubble Bubble disappointment instead of milky way bars or peanut butter cups like good Americans.
Is there any other reason to celebrate Halloween besides the pagan holiday….then fergitaboutit. I too long for the “good ole days” of pillow cases and casing the neighborhood in scary, not gory or sleazy costumes. When we lived in Utah I hated “trunk-or-treating” as a ward activity, because the same kids would stop by the house again on Halloween. Our neighborhood was our ward, and we always invited the non-members to all ward activities as well.
The best part of Halloween was always the ward spook alley when I was a teen, and let’s not forget that for those who don’t live in Arizona, there was the end to DST on Fast Sunday. An extra hour of sleep!
thanks for stirring up some fond memories from my childhood: costumes made by my mom that conveniently could be used as pajamas and getting a nickel (instead of candy) from the garbage mans house.
Make sure to read LDS living ‘s article about Charles Schultz. It will make you happy and
sentimental! My birthday is Halloween. Easiest parties ever! Always costume!
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I come from a long line of pillowcasers and my kids are passing on the tradition except my daughter who had to make a cute milk pail for her daughter the piglet. ??
Amen about the Milky Way. I don’t trade my Milky Ways.
But Snickers will beat Milky Ways