Friday, October 31, 2008

happy halloweens

As I sit here, jumping up every few minutes to answer to the tiny voices exclaiming, "trick or treat," I can't but help reminisce about past Halloweens and how we spent them as a family.

I remember the frantic hours spent in preparation of two little ones going out to claim their rightful due of candy. Whether it was the make-up or the costume, it was never as easy as just putting on a piece of clothing. We always ordered pizza so I wouldn't have to worry about dinner and because after awhile, it became a tradition.

Many years we we would let the kids travel around to the immediate neighbors but then take them up to our church for the annual Harvest festival. There they were able to play games, see friends, and collect candy. Most years, Don and I would work a booth or food area for a short amount of time. Even when the kids were too old to go trick or treating, we would all go to the festival, work, and join in the fellowship.


There was a couple of years that the kids spent more time trick or treating in the neighborhood than at the church. They were older and we went out with other families or they went with friends.

Even though each year looked slightly different in where the kids got their candy or big differences in what their costume was, the was usually one constant... and that was the weather. Halloween in Denver is almost always cold, if not snowing. If you're going out to trick or treat, coats would cover the costumes that parents worked so hard on. And who wants to put on snow boots, coats, and gloves to walk out in the frigid weather?

Amazingly, this year's Halloween weather is gloriously warm. I believe the temperature today was in the mid 70s. Once the sun went down, it was probably somewhere in the low 60s or high 50s, which believe me, is balmy for anyone who has lived in this area for any amount of time.

I'm sure the swarms of ghosts and goblins, spidermen and princesses, lions and fairies - and their parents - appreciate the warm weather. I appreciated being able to see each and every costume.

Ah, such great memories.... oh.... there goes my doorbell again....

8 comments:

MightyMom said...
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MightyMom said...

awesome! my 3 peas in a pod had great fun "giving candy to the kids Momma!"

and now it's on to Thanksgiving and my home stretch for gifts!

Faith said...

Hi there, arrived here through the black box! My girls grown up now but I also used to enjoy the Halloween fun in days gone by. Over here, the costumes all tend to be scary ones - no princesses or fairies.

Heart of Rachel said...

Cute costumes. Hope you had a fun Halloween celebration.

Susan said...

Loved the cute picture.
Susan

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing your memories, Hope your Halloween was fun:)

Jamey said...

It sounds like you have great memories! I love that you share them with us.

We had great weather here too. I'm glad Colordo finally got some nice weather for Halloween. My memories there are of rain/sleet/snow...sometimes all in one night :) Not that SD is any better! But what a great year this year weather wise!!

nancy said...

Hi there. You know, I've enjoyed my adult children so very much and now call them my friends as well as my kids. They are such a blessing to me. I thank God that I have so many. (5). My eldest daughter and I went through an art box yesterday that had belonged to Libby (our deceased daughter). It was something that had been put away for "someday". We found so many little treasures - and the two of us had a great time supporting each other and reminiscing together. There is no one else who could have shared that experience with me so meaningfully.
Nancy