The first Halloween that I remember was spent at my Grandmother's house. Both my brother and I helped her to hand out the treats to the kids who visited her front door. Some of the older kids wore very scary masks that terrified me so badly that I still remember how hard it was to fall asleep on the foldout couch in Grandma's living room. To make it worse for a four or five year old girl, it was a full moon that year and the light from the moon lit up the entire room and caused strange shadows to dance across the windows.
Some years later, Halloween had become a fun excursion with the other kids in the
neighborhood. The Halloween outings that I remember the most were long walking trips throughout the four or five blocks where our friends lived. In those days, we knew all of the neighbors on our block as well as most of the families for blocks around. As we grew older, the more far ranging our Trick-or-Tricking took us. During some forays when my brother and I were pre-teens, we would cover the better part of six or seven blocks. The only problem was that our Treat Bags would become so heavy that we'd grudgingly returned home. Still, we loved every minute of the "sugar high" that followed!
A couple of years later, my brother and his friends played tricks on the younger children; draped toilet paper on the trees in the yards; and generally caused mayhem in the neighborhood.
During my high school years, Mom would send me out with our Basset Hound, Sadie,![Dog0091[1]](http://crazyanticsanddreams.typepad.com/.a/6a00e554912e5c88340133f4e4884e970b-120wi "Dog0091[1]")
to escort my two younger sisters and our cousin who lived up the street from us. The girls loved being able to go Trick-or-Treating and Sadie was quite content to tag along as our guard dog. Several of the older women on our block would have homemade goodies for the kids and they always had goodies for me too. Trust me, one lady made the best homemade Divinity I've ever tasted!
Since I was born in October, I seem to have a fondness for this season. I'm also a fan of costumes and being able to wear funny clothes on Halloween and not be thought of as weird. Well, weirder than I am at times!
