Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween Pasts

Last night we saw some little kids dressed up in costume looking just pretty cute. With Halloween on the weekend this year, I guess there are lots of parties going on. Jesse had one party with her coworkers last night and one tonight with some other friends. It all reminded me of the great times we used to have in Red River when my kids were little. Trick-or-treating was not easy in RR even when I was a kid. Maybe it was the snow and cold, or maybe it was the fact that people don't really live in neighborhoods. The town is small, but spread out. People live in and manage hotels and restaurants. Some people live up the side of the mountain. I do remember Mom driving us around to a few house when I was little. But when my kids lived in RR, we did not do the usual t-o-t stuff. We had a carnival of sorts at the Community House, and the whole town turned out for it - and even the adults dressed up. The PTA sponsored the carnival. They set up booths of games and gave out prizes rather than candy. Usually there was a theme - one year that I was responsible for the carnival, we did a "circus" theme. Several of us dressed as circus animals and performed a skit. I was an elephant with big floppy ears and a long, sock nose. I don't have a single photo of that. But I do have some photos of other years. In this one, the Gill family showed up everyone with their great children's' costumes. Then there was the year that Bo and I made a mask - Jesse and I dressed in easy witch costumes and Toby was great as a humpback. Here is Bo as a football player, and Mrs. Bear's daughter who is now 21 years old. Mrs. B made some great costumes in her day. Also in this photo is Ilsa as Picasso and my friend Lynda not dressed up, but beautiful.


Those years at the Community House and the fall carnival were lots of fun. It was such a community event although it was especially done for the kids. When the kids got older, we quit doing Halloween. But there is just something about choosing a costume and dressing up. Last night Jesse dressed as Charlie Chaplin - maybe she will post a pic of her costume.

4 comments:

Buck said...

Great pics, Lou.

My favorite Halloween memory is the time TSMP, her roommates (two other ND girls), and I went out and hit the bars in South Bend (Indiana) dressed as raisins... the gestalt being a commercial that was running on teevee at the time, something to the effect of "it's raisins that make Post Raisin Bran so wonderful"... That was a great good time. But I suppose ya hadda be there. :p

Bag Blog said...

Buck,
Back in RR, after the kids carnival, the adults all went to Kate and Gary's (local bar) for an amazing Halloween costume party. The best I ever saw was when about 5 people dressed as raisins and came dancing in to "heard it on the grape vine..."

Becky G said...

We don't do Halloween any more either. As a kid, it was one of my favorite holidays, though. We were only allowed to go trick or treating on our road, but we got plenty of candy. When Cody was small, we went to our church's Halloween carnival, called Hallow Him. He outgrew all that several years ago. Now, except for watching Great Pumpkin, it's pretty much just another day.

Anonymous said...

... you know, we had more trick-or-treaters this year than any year before...... must have been because of the weekend, eh?...

Eric