Monday, October 29, 2012

Memories of Halloween


Welcome to the 25th day of BlogFest!!  Can you believe we have already made it to almost the end of the month?  Today I am your host and challenge you to write about:


 "Your favorite Halloween Memories"


     What are my favorite Halloween memories??  I have so many it is hard to pinpoint one particular favorite so I am going to touch on  many because I can!    Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays.    Every October my mom would dig out the Halloween decorations and deck the halls with pumpkins, ghosts, black cats, and witches.   When it became fashionable to string orange and purple lights to celebrate Halloween she did that too.  She always took me trick or treating and since most of my relatives lived far apart, a lot of the witching hour of trick or treat was spent on the road racing from house to house.  I could always count on a huge Hershey bar and some money at my Grandma’s house and every year looked forward to the baked Halloween cookies my aunt made which were frosted in orange and decorated with candy corn, marshmallows, and chocolate morsels. 


       One year the Oak Ridge Boys were in town for Halloween and my mom and I dressed up and went to the concert.  Although there was a costume contest, neither one of us won.  We had a great time anyways.  I dressed as a court jester and my mom was a classy witch complete with sequined black dress, black high heels, jewelry, and pointy black hat.  I will never forget when we rushed home for some reason that afternoon  what transpired.  Although I have shared this little story before, it is simply too memorable not to share again since it is one of my favorite memories.  My mom flew into the drive way like a bat out of hell, jumped out of the car, and squatted on the front lawn and took a pi$$ while I laughed myself silly.  I can only imagine what the passing traffic and the folks waiting in the drive up at the bank across the street thought about seeing a witch pissing on the lawn on Halloween.  If you got to go, you got to go.  





     Once I became an adult and worked, Halloween was made even more fun  when we were encouraged to dress up and bring in treats to enjoy throughout the day.  While I dressed up when I worked at a grocery store as a cat, my favorite memories were of when I worked at the local library.  All the employees dressed up and in my department, we brought in lots of food so we could party and graze all day while we worked.  The children's department always hosted a Halloween party and then would parade all the kids throughout the library.  They were as thrilled to see our costumes as we were to see theirs.



       Since my own kids have arrived on the scene I have continued my mom’s example of making Halloween memorable.  Every year I have made sure my kids are made up in costume whether bought or hand made.   One year I made both kids pirate outfits and took them to the town Halloween party.  We played games, drank apple cider, ate doughnuts, and collected candy at the fire house.  We took a haunted hayride into the cemetery where we encountered spooks, goblins, and the headless horseman who rushed at the wagon and scared the be Je$us out of all of us.



        Every year since I have known my husband I have visited the Pumpkin Fantasy Land in Ligonier, Indiana to explore their new pumpkin creations, a hayride to the pumpkin patch, and to find my way through the straw mazes.  Before going home we picked the perfect pumpkins which I will take great delight in knifing, degutting, and carving a whimsical face.  We always save the pumpkins seeds which I bake for a snack, and this year I plan to brew some pumpkin juice to wash them down with.



         Like me, my kids favorite memories include walking through the neighborhood and loading up on tons of candy.  The best part of Halloween is dressing up, the candy, and the food until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.





24 comments:

  1. Halloween is just as popular in Ireland as it is in America. Like so many of the TV ads now are about Halloween specials or this Halloween there's a sale on. And there'll be kids knocking on my door soon all dressed up for Halloween and looking for stuff.

    Halloween is not that popular in mainland Europe. My girlfriend is Dutch and they don't care much about Halloween. Halloween is a UK and Ireland thing in Europe.

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    1. I think it is so cool that you celebrate some of the same traditions we do here in the states. Thank you for sharing and for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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  2. Kathy--thank you for being the host for BlogFEST 2012 today!! I appreciate it. You have a lot of fun and wonderful memories of Halloween. I love the pic of you as a jester and the pic of your kids. How awesome!! Happy Halloween!

    Jenn

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    1. Jenn, you are welcome. I am honored to host a day. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your comments! Happy Halloween!! ♥

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  3. You sure have a lot of fun memories of Halloween, Kathy. The story of your Mom is absolutely hysterical! ;)

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    1. Corinne, I will never forget that moment with my Mom. I almost peed myself laughing. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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  4. You got me thinking about my own Halloween memories and in retrospect I should have prepared a post with them but now we have a hurricane bearing down on us and I don't see that I'm gonna get a quality post w/ pictures drafted b/f the inevitable loss of power later on!!!!

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    1. JoJo, Stay safe!! Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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  5. It's wonderful that you have so many good memories of Halloween. Your kids are lucky to have a mom who enjoys it just as much as I'm sure they do. Kudos!

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    1. Adelia, I hope they realize it! LOL I am looking forward to Halloween this year because both of my kids take their lunches and I have some Halloween surprises for their lunch boxes on that day. They will be so surprised!! I can't wait. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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  6. That seems a lot of fun. Wish I had something as good as this to share.

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    1. Janu, Halloween has always been lots of fun. I go out of my way to make it that way. I loved your poem. It was wonderful!! Thank you for stopping by to read and comment on my post! ♥

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  7. My favourite Halloween memories....when I was little it was my best friends, my brother and I all dressed as vampires and witches on the hunt for chocolate and sweets.

    As an adult....liquid latex, rice, airbrush with paint and the ability to make a fake wound look real! :)

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    1. Loki-Lou, awesome!! Sounds like a blast! Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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  8. You brought up so many memories for me... this was the one I simply had to write. THANK YOU for the prompt!!

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    1. Julie, you are welcome! Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments!! ♥

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  9. Enjoyed reading your article too, especially the hayride through the cemetery.

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    1. Betty, I am so pleased you enjoyed it. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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  10. Lordy, you sure keep busy on Halloween, Kathy! I'm interested in this "brewing pumpkin juice" idea. Can you say more about that? Do you have a recipe (Asks the woman who is CONSUMED with and by food)? I must concede that Halloween's always been a bit of a disturbing holiday for me. Check out my post (http://afulldegreebelownormal.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/is-it-a-hybrid-or-what/)and you'll see why! ;-)

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    1. Daphne, As I get older I wonder if I can actually keep up with all that! LOL As far as the pumpkin juice goes I found the recipe in a Harry Potter party book I got at the library. I made it, and it was delicious!

      1/2 Cup Canned Pumpkin
      1 Cup Vanilla ice cream
      1 cup Milk
      1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice
      1/4 tsp vanilla extract
      1 TBSP sugar

      Combine ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth. Then serve and enjoy!

      The book is:
      Unofficial Harry Potter Party Book by Jessica Fox. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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  11. You definitely love Halloween :-) It is also my youngest one's favorite.

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    1. Journey of Life, it is a lot of fun...and a lot of work! I'm exhausted...but the kids loved it. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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  12. Fun to read your halloween memories and loved the pics.

    Here's my favourite Halloween memory

    Apologies for posting so late.

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    1. Suzy, I am so pleased you enjoyed reading about my Halloween memories! Thank you for stopping by and for your kind comments!

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