Trick or Treat

As we were growing up, we learned to use what was at hand and celebrate with our hearts. Halloween was no different. I remember raiding every closet and drawer in the house to find 'creative' things to use as costume. The five of us girls would help each other, working hard to find just the right thing... and almost always there would be a princess, a hobo, a pirate, a ghost, and goblin... the only thing that really changed much is who got to be which character!
We trick-or-treated for UNICEF with our church youth groups, raising money for children's projects. Mr Wentzel, who lived down the road and sold produce from a tv tray would not donate to UNICEF, he didn't think it was right to be begging for money like that. Still, we took part in that annual money raising campaign, we just didn't go to Mr Wentzel's house!
One year, I remember going trick-or-treating around the East Livermore circle where Grammie and Grampa lived, and the house across the street (the Nichols' homestead) became engulfed in flames later in the evening. Now, I'm not exactly sure if that was on Halloween night or not, but in my mind that's when it happened. The Nichols' didn't seem quite as well off as we were, maybe because they seemed a bit unkempt when we picked them up on the school bus or something... just an image in my mind. Seems most images of the past for me get categorized as something that was tidy or untidy... and so in my adult life I strive for tidy so I don't get put in someone else's category of untidy!
Trick-or-treat also brings on another special day, my dad's birthday which is November 1st. Somehow, bad or not so bad, it seems that trick-or-treat always seemed a bigger holiday (sorry dad, but I'm being honest here) as we were growing up... as adults I think we place great importance on celebrating his special day!
There were many Halloween's that I remember having snow, sometimes snowbanks. We'd put on all this costume stuff, scarfs and props to signify the characters we were representing, makeup on our faces and hair put up somehow... all to be covered with parkas, scarves, hats, and mittens... harumph... I think it's still fairly cool the end of October these days, but I haven't seen a significant amount of snow in years!
Thanks mom and dad for grand memories of Halloween.