“HAVE YOU BOUGHT YOUR CANDY YET?”

By

Gerry Niskern

Why don’t skeletons go trick or treating?

Times getting  short. Only a few more days until the witches, princesses or monsters come shouting at your door. “Trick or Treat, Trick or treat!”. You better be ready.

Years ago, in our first new home, I kept reminding my husband to pick up  some candy. Halloween was coming. Of course, I didn’t have to remind him because, for days, he had heard our two-year old practicing her new words. “Trick or Treat”. She had it down pat.She was going as a Chinese girl.  She had a pair of blue silk Chinese pajamas and I had fashioned her a coolie hat.

When the big day arrived, Daddy came home with boxes of regular sized candy bars. Boxes of them! “I’m giving out the kind of loot that I would have liked when  was a kid!” he declared.

He stayed home with baby brother and Miss Hong Kong and I took off. There was just one problem. At the first home and every one thereafter, she stonily held  out her bag and gave the poor neighbors the dirtiest look  she could muster, refusing to say a word. She came home with quite a little sack full anyway.

We came home to find out that her daddy had not given out a single candy bar. Nary a Goblin had knocked on our front door. “I would hear kids coming and then they would sort of fade away.” He said. We finally decided to check  the front door. We had both forgotten to take down the “Shhhh…baby sleeping” sign that I had put out that afternoon.

So get out and get that candy and be sure to check your front door!

By the way, the reason Skeletons don’t go Trick or Treating is they don’t have any body to go with!

Halloween, let’s give it back!

By

Gerry Niskern

Halloween used to be just for kids.  I’m talking about the age-old holiday when the  kids dressed up like witches or monsters and visited the neighbor’s houses shouting, “Trick or Treat”.

Planning began weeks in advance, giving everyone time to think up the best character. That way they could always change their mind several times, driving their mother crazy, especially the ones who were sewing the costumes.

Make no mistake about it. This is one holiday the kids own. On October 31, when it starts to get dark and they have eaten the required bite of dinner, it’s trick-or-treat time. Beautiful Princesses and heroic Batmen hit the door running, with mom or dad trotting to keep up with the charge down the street.

Actually, I’m a little more concerned each year. According to the costume rental businesses, the demand for adult disguises is through the roof. Restaurants and caterers brag that their orders for adult Halloween parties are increasing rapidly. That’s all fine and dandy, but remember this special night belongs to the munchkins.

Halloween night, dating back to when it officially started around A. D. 830 when Pope Gregory IV proclaimed November 1 All Saints’ Day, also known as Allhallows, has by tradition been a kids night for fun.

The school may have an official parade through the other grades to show off costumes, but that does not a Halloween make! Yes, it has gotten a lot more dangerous in recent years. Sure we all have to be more diligent about where we take the munchkins in their quest for goodies. Also, older brothers and sisters have to be given strict guidelines for their adventures.

Don’t pass up the wonderful chance that helps the little ones develop their creativity and imagination too. Those childhood years pass too quickly, eight or ten at the most. When they put on those costumes and are transformed into Spiderman or Barbie, make no mistake about it, they really become Spiderman and Barbie and deserve an evening of  “let’s pretend.”

So how about it, before the adults take over the holiday, let’s give Halloween back to the kids?

When Cousins Collide!

Some of you might remember the post that I wrote about meeting my great-great-grandaughter for the first time about a year ago. At that time I mentioned her unique approach to everything. I got to see her again last Sunday and she was more innovative and fun than ever. She doesn’t like to wear pant and shirts anymore, only ballerina dresses. When she is being dressed in the morning she keeps getting out a dress, hoping to replace the play clothes. When one isn’t accepted, she keeps bringing out another and another, thinking one will be okay. This little blond haired, brown eyed fashionista is persistent. If it sounds like I’m bragging….I am. I’m a great-great, those are the rules!

She just turned two a couple of months ago and is sporting quite a vocabulary. “Hi Grandma” she called as I walked in her grandmother’s house. Most of her talking was reserved for her younger cousin, Oliver. There was a reason for this, you see. ,

Iris plays with the babies at the Day Care she attends, but because cousin Oliver was a preemie and is small for his 18 months, she calls him baby and doesn’t realize he is his own man. He had brought all of his video games and she was staking a claim to them . I haven’t had so much fun in a long time; watching the crying battles that ensued. When she would try to take one that he was playing with she found it wasn’t that easy. You see, Oliver uses a wheelchair and has very strong little arms. So when she pulled a game a way, he didn’t let it go. “Done now”, he yelled and she kept saying “no, no baby”, but couldn’t pry his strong little hands loose.

After the battle of the videos, she decided to push him around in his wheelchair. Her ballerina skirt billowed out like a parachute as they made their own NASCAR track, that is, until they hit one wall and then another. He was laughing out loud as they crashed. He didn’t know girl cousins could be such fun. She kept patting him on the head and saying “I love you little baby

When Oliver was put down to crawl, she crawled all over the house with him. But when he crawled over and picked up a video game, the armistice was over!