My children all know that Halloween is my least favorite day of the whole year. I don't like scary movies or scary costumes, and Halloween seems to abound with those -- and I'm not creative. When the kids would ask "What can I dress up as on Halloween?", I would (in desperation) direct them to the box we kept downstairs -- full of old clothes and maybe an old costume or two. When I had influence, I tried to encourage them to be a hobo, a dancer, a cowboy, a clown, or a princess. (I have never liked having to dress up in a costume -- I know, I know - I'm not much fun when it comes to things like that. As a result, I was not very creative when it came to Halloween and coming up with ideas for the kids, but I knew that an old cowboy shirt and hat could turn you into a cowboy or a long dress could turn you into a princess.) Over the years, they learned to be creative on their own or get ideas from their friends. Roger's job was to make sure that we had pumpkins to carve for Halloween at Family Home Evening.
On Halloween night, I would prefer to curl up in a corner of the couch upstairs and either read a book or watch a light-hearted Disney movie or something. It's not that I mind passing out the candy, but we live in a split-level home, so you either have to camp out on the stairs or run up and down them all night. When the kids were younger, the door rang constantly. Parents from all over Enoch would bring their children to our street and then they would trick or treat the four or five blocks to the elementary school for the PTA-sponsored Halloween Carnival. Now a lot of parents with younger children do "trunk or treat" in the church parking lot or stick to their own neighborhoods where they know their neighbors. We still buy Halloween candy and open the door and pass it out when the doorbell rings, but there aren't quite as many "trick-or-treaters" in our neighborhood as there used to be, so it is a little quieter.
But I couldn't resist pulling out some pictures of Halloweens past and taking another trip down memory lane in our "home-made" costumes .
Halloween 1980
Lynnette, Chad, Jennifer, & Carolyn
Halloween 1982
Chad (at the back)Jennifer, Lynnette, Carolyn, & Kyle Athey, a cousin
Halloween 1984
Back: Jennifer & Carolyn
Front: Lynnette, Monica, & Chad
Halloween 1986
Monica, Carolyn, Lynnette, & Jennifer
Halloween 1986
The Athey Boys
Front: Devin, Shaun, & Derek
Back: Kyle and a couple of neighbors
Halloween 1988
Nicole, Devin, Derek, Kyle, Monica, Shaun
Halloween 1990
Front: Monica & Nicole
Back: Carolyn & Julie Hulet
Halloween 1992
Matt & Devin Athey
Nicole
Halloween 1996
Jayli Zingelman
Jodi Zingelman & Nicole as a two-headed monster?
Halloween 1998
Me, Nicole, & Monica
Halloween 1999
Nicole as "Sassy Smurf"
Because we no longer have kids at home and none of our grandchildren live close enough to come "trick-or-treating", we don't have much incentive to decorate for Halloween. But Halloween is coming, and just so my kids (and grandkids) won't think Grandma is a complete "Scrooge" went it comes to Halloween..........
3 comments:
ahh, homemade costumes. I heard a girl in Target say today into her phone "I don't want to look at his baby book and think 'that is a lame costume, why did I get that?'"
I'm glad we can't say that about any of our costumes:)
Actually, looking back at the pictures, you should give yourself more credit. Most of the time we even had face paint. Plus, it kept us from learning that we have to spend money on costumes. I have only ever bought two costumes for my kids and one cost .50. Way to go Mom!!
I like the photo from 1990 the best. It looks like maybe Monica went that year as Lynnette.
You really should enjoy Halloween more. It is the time of year that we can let our inner selves out.
Oh well I loved the Wedding picture from 1971. Such a long time ago.
Have fun,
Bob & Joyce
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