Marcy's Travel Blog- Halloween, Past and Present!

A little bit of personal "Halloween" history: When I was about 3 or 4 years old, my family had just moved into "the little pink house on the corner" in the small town of Clarion, Iowa. A neighborhood girl came to the door and asked if my older sister and I were going "trick-or-treating".

My mother grew up in Omaha, Nebraska- a large city (in comparison)- and didn't seem to know about trick-or-treating. Once the neighbor explained, she was told we had no costumes to wear.

I remember her saying that wasn't a problem, we could go as anything we wanted to.






My older sister and I had just gotten new winter coats. Hers was a red checkered coat, mine was green checkered- and both had hoods. So, my older sister went as "Little Red Riding Hood"- and I went as "Little Green Riding Hood".

 Back then, people baked cookies or popped pop corn to hand out. There were people that would give candy, but most things were home made. Remember that this was a town of about 3,000 people- more or less a farm community. So we actually walked the outskirts of the town, even hitting a few farm houses along the way. I don't remember any of my Halloweens after that, but the first one was memorable! To think that you could knock on a door, say a few words, and these people would give you a goodie! To my "toddler" self, that was amazing!

But fast forward to the present, where the Halloween holiday is much different than in the 1940's! This Halloween looked to be a very wet one for those of us in Howell, Michigan! It poured all day, without letting up once! We were all talking to our "weather angels", on behalf of the children--and adults too! Please- PLEASE let it stop raining, just for a few hours! My daughter-in-law purchased umbrellas for the kids, in the hopes that "reverse phycology" would come into play. (Buy them so you won't need them!)

And, it worked! The rain turned to a slight mist for about three hours, just enough of a window of time to have the "Halloween Madness"!

My family thoroughly enjoys this holiday! This year we had two supper heroes!


Granddaughter Payton was "Bat Girl"!

As we know, every super hero needs a side kick!

And so- Lawyer Mia became the sidekick known as "Robin"! (The yellow cape is actually from her childhood, I'm told. Seems she once was her brother's sidekick!)

"TOGETHER THEY WILL RID THE WORLD OF SUGAR OVERDOSE BY GATHERING AS MUCH CANDY AS POSSIBLE!

LOL! I thought they made a pretty cute pair!














The biggest preparation was done by my son. I have to admit, I'm amazed at his artistic abilities! I think he could be a makeup artist for the movie studios! His masterpiece was my grandson Evan, who wanted to be a Zombie!! (I guess my suggestion to go as a bunny doesn't go over too big for a 10 year old boy! Ha!)

Ripped and frayed cloths were a necessity 

I thought this was horrifying enough, but thy had just begun!

Oh man! My poor grandson's face! (He thought it was great!)

Steven added layer over layer of special effects!

Evan was almost there with the zombie look! 

All I could say was "Oh God!"- which Evan took as a good reaction!

So off they took through the neighborhood, while I stayed behind with my caldron filled with goodies to hand out!

I could not believe the turnout! I expected that the days rain would dampen the spirits of most kids, and parents- but there were trick-or-treater's everywhere!

We had more than enough candy to go around, and all the costumes were fun to see.

At some point, the youngsters decided to go home and calculate the booty!

That's enough to last all year- as long as they hide it from me!

These two love handing out candy! There were a lot of high school kids that came to the door this year. All the girls LOVED Payton's little Bat Girl costume!

And all of the big kids marveled at Evan's outfit. He was asked if he had a mask on- which means the makeup job was a success!

I have no idea how long it took for Evan to get this makeup off his face, and out of his hair! And the next day was a school day!









I don't envy the teachers their job on the day after Halloween! Over stimulated, over sugared, over tired kids- hmm! Not fun!

I had a great time watching my family prepare for the holiday! What fun! I'm thinking that next year I'll get in the "costume" spirit. If any of you have suggestions, let me know.

I believe in holidays- big and small! Part of life's joy- for me- is the celebration of everything you can think of. That's part of the fun- part of the adventure!

So here's to the spirit of fun, of humor, of play- that is in all of us, young and old. Find something to celebrate today, because that's the fun stuff, the good energy that keeps us healthy!

Join me this next week to see what new adventure is just around the corner! Until then!