If you are as old as I am you should have a ton of Halloween memories. Mine go as far back as grade school and wearing a Halloween costume to school. In my case it was one of those costumes that came in a box with the mask staring at you. I did not have “custom made” costumes until I created them myself in my adult years. Halloween was so much fun back in the fifties and sixties. Going house to house to get candy and sometimes it was money or a small bag of potato chips. It was always exciting when a household gave out full size candy bars. We brought home the full bags and got another bag and went out for more, sometimes our parents would drive us to another neighborhood, I think we thought the candy was better in areas that were a little more suburban. Once I became an adult and started giving out candy at my own house things started to change. The kids that were trick or treating looked more like adults and they were showing up without masks. I remember it being rather scary. Some of the young ladies were pushing strollers and they wanted candy for the baby as well. Back then I had a policy that if you could not say the words “trick or treat” then I was not giving out candy. If no costume or mask, no candy. For me Halloween was losing its shine. I noticed that things were changing, kids no longer came door to door, something called “Trunk or Treat” became popular and kids and families were gathering in parking lots of schools or churches and giving out candy from the trunks of their cars. Last year on Halloween night the streets were empty, no kids rang the bell at all. I wish todays kids could enjoy the fun we had decades ago. But I guess you don’t miss what you don’t know. Happy Halloween everyone.
Email the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com
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