One of my favorite holidays growing up was Halloween.  My friends and I would all get together and make our costumes in our living room.  It was a huge production and highly anticipated.  My favorite costume was the Snow Queen, from the story of the same name.  I made paper snowflakes with glitter and stapled them to a dress I made from one of my mom’s old sheets.  I had a crown and a septor (because you can’t be a queen without a septor).  It was quite he ensemble; I thought I was styling and profiling!  It was about forth or fifth grade.  My brother went as a sack of potatoes in a burlap sack so obviously, we had no theme going.  Then my mom took pictures of us before we headed out in search of treats.  I still have those pictures.

Now growing up in the midwest, it was not unusual to have snow on Halloween.  Therefore, when making your costume, you had to plan for layers underneath to keep warm.  I grew up in a town with 284 people, so trick or treating pretty much involved the whole town.  You knew who had the best candy, who gave you extra candy and who gave you Charlie Brown rocks!  Then after a night of fun and frivolity, you went home and sorted out your take.  What would you eat now, what would you swap and what would you give away.  It was always a game between my brother and I who could make their candy last the longest.  I ALWAYS won!

Today, Halloween is much more commercialized.  Items come out in the stores earlier and earlier every year.  Schools, churches and business get involved, some calling it the more politically correct “harvest festival” celebration.  But for me, Halloween memories will be about spending time with my friends in a small, rural Wisconsin town.  In the immortal words of Scooby Doo, “Ruh Roh”!  Watch out for villians, my pretties!