Most kids love Christmas. You know, the presents and all.
Not to say I didn't love all of that too, but Halloween?
Ah, Halloween was well... Hallowed for us (click here to read my last post on Gary to know what all the fuss was about)
Why? Well, you see my childhood wasn't exactly normal. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, you are shocked.
Let's see, we have a life-sized nativity scene out front every Christmas. We built floats every year and drove around Northern California to each and every county fair, because, hey, we wanted trophies for all our work.
But all of that paled in comparison to Halloween. It would literally take a forklift to move the huge pumpkins we used for decoration.
And the costumes, oh the costumes were elaborate. Yes, one year I was Hatshepsut... um, you know, the only female Egyptian pharaoh. #duh
But the Halloween that sticks most in my mind is the year that I dressed up as Princess Leah, another neighborhood kid dressed as Luke Skywalker and Gary... well Gary dressed up as Jesus.
Now remember this was in the 70s. And we lived in rural Northern California. But no matter, Gary did not just dress as Jesus, he also insisted on blessing people and forgiving them for participating in a pagan holiday like Halloween.
As you can imagine half the people found it amusing and the other half... well, we got chased off a lot of porches.
It was oh-so-wrong, but oh-so-fun.
Then we got to a house and the woman smiled and commented on how cute our costumers were. Gary was pleased... until she said...
"Look, honey, it is Robin Hood (supposed to be Luke), Maid Marian (Leah) and Friar Tuck!"
As you can imagine, Gary went into a fifteen minute rant about the absolute accuracy of our costumes. The best part for us kids though was, the woman was so flustered that she gave us a second helping of candy.
Call me crazy but that is one of my fondest memories of my childhood. Sacrilegious and all.
Again, I know #weird
What are some of your favorite childhood memories from Halloween? Interested to see if any can top mine for sheer weirdness :-)
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AWESOME. No stories to top yours, but last year we hosted a costume party that started at 9:30 (so kids would be gone). I answered the door in my costume (Tacky early Xmas display), and the kids' mouths dropped open.
ReplyDeleteMy easiest was in 1979, I was late 20s-I went out as Dr Rene Richards the tranny tennis pro making the rounds on the ladies pro tour. Scary black wig, some tasteful blush, lipstick-there you go & Bob's your Uncle.
ReplyDeleteI know how Gary felt-nobody got my "creativity" either.
I'm sorry this is a difficult time of the year for you. I'm glad you've begun to work through your grief. It's what we all must do. Although another's death may colour our life, we must not let it steal it.
ReplyDeleteOnce had someone give money instead of candy because they were out, awesome!!!!
ReplyDeleteAs a teen I worked at a haunted house...I still tell people it was the best Halloween ever. Thank you for sharing your story. He sounds like he was a beautiful person :)
ReplyDeleteHalloween was always a big holiday, but decorations were simply pumpkins. Nothing like today's decorations! We just had regular costumes, but boy did we get lots of candy. That is probably where my sweet tooth began!
ReplyDeleteOnce had someone give money instead of candy because they were out, awesome!!!!
ReplyDeleteHalloween was always a big holiday, but decorations were simply pumpkins. Nothing like today's decorations! We just had regular costumes, but boy did we get lots of candy. That is probably where my sweet tooth began!
ReplyDeleteMy easiest was in 1979, I was late 20s-I went out as Dr Rene Richards the tranny tennis pro making the rounds on the ladies pro tour. Scary black wig, some tasteful blush, lipstick-there you go & Bob's your Uncle.
ReplyDeleteI know how Gary felt-nobody got my "creativity" either.