Trick or Treating

L to R: Tryphon as a mobster, Lyliana as a vampiress, Lyli's mytwinn as a GHOST..no shes not part of the KKK, I'm not raising any supremacists here! And Zephryn as a ninja.

Last night we made the 1 hour trip to the town where I did most of my Growing up to go Trick or Treating with my Mom. We managed to get there around 6, giving us a half-hour before the annual Halloween parade around the common. This tradition goes WAY back, I remember doing it when I was a child. Basically the Lions Club sponsors it (its much more involved now than it was back in my day...they actually have hot cocoa and hot dogs for sale now) and they have the Whitefield fire department bring down a fire truck and the throng of children that have gathered follow it 3 times around the Common while judges stand on the sidelines picking out the winners of the categories they have: Prettiest, scariest, most creative etc. When Aysha was little she won one of the categories every other year...back when I had ambition to make her costumes. One year she went as Little Bo Peep and our two shih-tzu's went in lamb costumes...so adorable. Another year her and my good friends daughter went as a pair of fuzzy dice and yet another year she and my oldest son, who was 10 months old went as a kangaroo and a joey...her back got pretty tired carrying him around the common 3 times in a front carrier but she got most creative I think.
This year when we got into town we noticed a bunch of kids trick or treating before the parade, and we went a did a couple of streets, intending to do the "real" door to door after we were done with the parade..because trick or treating is awesome in the dark. I guess I was the only person in the town of Whitefield to think such a thing. After the parade the streets were quickly deserted and quite a few porch lights went off. There were policemen located all around town, this is a town, a very very small town. Growing up there were a max of 3 policemen total working for the town, so to walk around seeing 7 or 8 standing around watching the older kids walk around was a little surreal. Then to realize that besides the "hoodlums" we were the only people left on the street at 8 at night was just...unbelievable. I remember trick or treating until 10! When did this happen??? When did fear take over...was it when we started hearing the stories of razor blades in apples and how "anyone" could be doing it...back when community meant something and everyone knew everyone there was no fear. We trusted our neighbors and let our children go out on Halloween by themselves (gasp!) where they ran for HOURS from house to house getting goodies from people that they knew and that knew them. I can't help but notice that about the time that people started getting scared is right around the same time that the news media were competing for popularity in our living rooms. I guess the cold war wasn't exciting enough to report about...and then with the fall of communism..well..what else was there? I suppose whipping the nation into a frenzy about poison in candy and razor blades in candy apples was a way to boost their ratings..but at what expense? I can only hope that some day my children or their children or even THEIR children get to enjoy a relaxed fear-free childhood where trick or treating takes hours and means walking through town in the dark, and not being afraid. Ok, Ok, getting off my soapbox now.
I hope everyone had a FUN Halloween :-)