HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Part One:

A corn maze, a hayride, and yummy Chinese food!

Continue reading New Halloween Memories »

This time of year is memorable.  Maybe it’s the colors of the leaves left in the trees, as well as the ones that have fallen to the ground?   Maybe it’s the fall time smell that permeates through the cool, night air?  Maybe it’s the lingering pumpkin on my hands?  Or the pumpkin seeds roasting in the oven?

Whatever it is, it’s memory evoking.

My clearest memory of Halloween, with the kids, brings me back to our kitchen on Oehman.  Spooky music is playing in the background and the three big kids are gathered around me, upon the kitchen chairs.  Everyone wanted to touch “the guts,” but as soon as the novelty wore off they were back to doing the Monster Mash, leaving me to get my hands messy.   This is just one memory of a multitude of Halloweeny memories.

• There have have been Halloween rounds–with toddlers–which included going to every relative’s house, and then some.  Tiresome rounds that I hope someone appreciated.
• There have been Halloween parties at our church hall.   The perfectionist  in me taking care to accomplish it all, and pulling it off every time.
• There have been Halloween story-times.  Dressing up and parading at the local library.
• There have been varying degrees of weather.  Some years costumes were ruined by big, bulky coats, while other years a turtle-neck, underneath, sufficed.
• There have been neighborhood trick-or-treats on Oehman. One of which included Mikey crapping his pants when Mr. Al came around the corner of his garage wearing a Scream mask.
• There have been a multitude of costumes.  Ranging from pumpkins, to Teletubbies, to clowns, to pirates, to firemen, to princesses, to home-made Thomas the Tank Engines, to Jedi Knights,  to animals like lions and poodles, to goths, to ghouls, to ghosts, to butterflies, to Bionicles, to Macedonian folk dancers, to gypsies, to witches, to karate kids!
• There have been Halloween-themed dinners in my parent’s kitchen.  Blood and Guts Stew with Bones for dipping (read: Chili and Bread Sticks)
• There have been trick-or-treats with friends.  Time after time after time after time after time.

And this year we do something totally different.  This year we will trick-or-treat in our neighborhood.  No friends will be joining us, nor will we be joining any friends.  We will walk the three streets that make up our ‘hood, and we will come home and hand out candy afterward.    A new memory to add to the vast list.

Memories.  And while I think about it, it’s definitely the lingering pumpkin on my fingers.   Without a doubt.

You are bruised
Fallen and old
Yet your beauty remains
Embraced

Held up to the sky
In pure perfection
Glowing beyond this realm
Enshrined

Your preserved splendor
Ensures that memories will not fail
This assortment of intensity
Endless

W O R D L E S S W E D N E S D A Y