Halloween Pasts

Looking back through the years Halloween was always my favorite Holiday. As a kid if Halloween fell on a weekday that was great. The anticipation on the school bus was electrifying and contagious. Some of the kids in our neighborhood were pretty low income and this was a chance to get all the candy your little heart desired. It all depended on how much walking you were willing to do to get it. I can tell you there was a lot of determined kids on that bus. We were good kids and we knew the first thing we had to do before we could start collecting all that candy was to go door to door and collect for needy kids through UNICEF. The funny thing was we didn't think we were needy kids! I can still see that UNICEF box that looked like a brown carton of milk. Right after school we hurried through the neighborhood knocking on doors of all the houses and trailers who had people home. "Trick or Treats for UNICEF"! we called out. Right before dark we hurried back with our UNICEF cartons that jingled with pennies and nickels. Mom always had us put some of our own change (if we had any) in that little box before we went off to "dress out". I can remember those Halloweens like it was yesterday. Back in 1963 parents didn't have to go with their children. We had brothers and sisters to keep us safe as we ran door to door. Mom fed us all before we sat out as well as a few neighbor kids. That night she would feed a vast array of monsters, princesses, pirates and one lone ghost. The ghost was my brothers best friend Leroy. Leroy was a ghost every year. The only thing he could afford was an old sheet. I can still smell my cheap plastic mask I wore each year. The tight elastic that went around my head drove me crazy and was hard to see out of. The neighborhood looked different at night to us and held such an element of suspense and excitement. If it was rainy and misty all the better! Our neighborhood was as safe as you could get because you knew everyone all your life. You also knew what you were going to get at each house because they had the same thing every year. The Grosvenors always gave out wonderful home made pop corn balls. The Thompson's had a little filling station at the top of the Highway and always had a huge metal tub full of soda's of every kind. The Mckinnons across the street gave out apples and oranges (we hit their house last). My mother gave out all the bags she had on hand and my little sister Bev ended up with what ever Mom could find. That year Bev ended up with a C&H sugar bag. We must have walked over two miles and covered as many house as we could saving the jack pot till the end. That jack pot was the biggest trailer park in the world, Hickory Hills. This was easy picking because the mobile homes were parked so close together. You could fill your bags so quickly there. The only problem was the endless stretch of streets that lay before you. This was a BIG mobile home park. As we neared the last roll of homes our bags now were so full we could hardly carry them. I looked over to my little sisters and Debbie's bag was full to the top. I then looked at Bev's empty hands. "Where's you bag I shouted"! Bev just pointed to the far end of the street and there sat her C&H bag right there in the middle of the road where she had just put it down and walked off. I had to run all the way down there to retrieve her candy treasure that she just abandoned because of the weight! Sisters! Traveling back home we must of looked like a weary bunch of misfits being lead by one lone tall ghost. Everyone was quiet as we contemplated on how much bounty we had in our bags. I never stopped to look at what was dropped into my bag and now I was wondering what all was in there. A Hersey bar was a prized possession in those days and I think I saw several go into my bag. Mom was always trilled to see us home safe and sound and made sure the living room was spread out so we could empty our bags and begin the serious job of "sorting". Candy bars in one pile, suckers in another and fruit and cookies and pop corn balls in yet another pile. Then Mom began her work examining all home made snacks and asking where we got them. After all of that was done Bev and Deb curled up in a near by chair and went instantly asleep. We older children began the serious work of "trading". "I'll give you a roll of Lifesavers for a roll of Charms", my brother would ask Patti. "Okay, she answered, but I want a Payday instead. "Deal" Mike replied. This went on for another hour till Mom had enough and sent us to bed. The bounty of that one glorious night left the whole neighborhood of kids in candy for over a month! The money we collected for UNICEF helped a lot of needy kids. For us that wonderful night of Tricks or Treats was a once in a year night to be free to be anything we wanted to be or dared to be, except for one lone ghost, Leroy.
Those days for me are long gone and now as a grandma I will be sharing my favorite night with my two grandsons, but deep down the child inside me still lives and dreams. Remember that our childhood, our children's childhood and our grandchildren's childhood is supposed to be just that.....Childhood. Don't rush it, savor it, for once gone we will never get to relive those wonderful moments again except in our memories. Nurture the child in all of us for it's that child that keeps us forever young. May this Halloween bring out the kid in you. Aunt Onie
Since it's beginning in Philadelphia in 1950, American children have collected $148 million going door to door with those familiar orange containers singing out "trick or treat for UNICEF!"