Halloween Memories

Halloween Memories

The first Halloween I remember I think I was seven years old. We began by finding just the right pumpkins and getting them ready to carve into perfect Jack O’ lanterns. First, we cut off the “lid” then scooped out the innards with a big spoon.  I can still remember the shrieks. “Ewwwwww, gross pumpkin guts”.  It was cold and slimy as we dug it out. Finally, the pumpkins were ready to carve, some with triangle shaped eyes and noses, some with round features and the scarier the better! Next step was to fit candles into the bottom of the Jack O’ lanterns, carefully light them then turn off the lights in the room and admire these sinister faces flickering in the dark.

I chose to be a clown that year. It was a balmy October evening and my older sister and I set out to go trick or treating. We carried brightly decorated Halloween bags and flashlights. The fallen leaves crunched under our feet as we skipped along between the dim streetlights, running through the spaces that were dark and creepy. What could be lurking in those shadows? The whole idea of Halloween was being petrified and we were! We met a lot of bigger ghosts and goblins who would flap their arms and shriek at us. 

My heart was pounding in my chest by the time we knocked on the first door.  An old man dressed as a vampire opened the door.  My legs began to shake, I felt like screaming and running away.  He put treats in the Halloween bag I was carrying and I remember thanking him in a trembling voice.

After about an hour of going door to door our baskets were full. We returned home with our flashlight batteries dimming more with each step. We dumped our candy out on the kitchen table to be checked by our mum for suspicious looking candy and apples that could possibly have pins in them. 

I feel wistful looking back on that Halloween, I long to go back to the fun times of my childhood when the whole community worked together to make this holiday as safe and secure as possible.  Halloween is still my favorite time of the year.