Remembering Past Halloweens and What I've Learned

Danny and I were talking about the upcoming Haunted Corn Maze here. I was wondering if the were going to go ahead and do it this year since some of it was damaged earlier in the growing season by heavy wind and rain. He said that it would probably go on as planned. We then started talking about past Halloweens with the kids. One in particular was when they first learned how to trick or treat. It started with them opening someone's door, running into the house and yelling, "Trick or Treat!" Yes, the lady had the scare of her life seeing a little boy dressed in Batman, one in Robin, and a young girl in a witch outfit standing behind her with pillowcases. She gave them lots of candy and, after that night, never turned her porch light on again for Halloween, and we told the kids how to correctly go to people's homes and do their Trick or Treat.

Well, they had the hang of it the next year, and, like almost every Halloween where we lived in Florida, it had just finished raining. But this Halloween we had had a Tropical Storm come through, so it dropped an unusual high rate of rain, and there were puddles that were really deep and water standing 2-3 foot deep in the ditches. Brian, who was Robin, decided he was going to go running to the next house. We tried stopping him, but he had to have first pick. His little feet going fast, and then, SPLASH, into the ditch, skimming across it like a skimboarder, for about 20 feet. Newly mowed grass he was spitting out of his mouth when he looked up, held up his hands and cried, "Mommy, Daddy, Robin's all wet! Robin's all wet!" Try as we might we couldn't stop laughing, which made him cry even harder. The couple that lived in the house came out and gave him an extra handful of candy that time.

I've learned you don't dress your son up as a mummy while using strips of sheets tied around him. After 20 feet they slip. He starts out as a mummy looking authentic, he comes back with sheets tied every which way, and looking like he's coming unwrapped.

I've learned, when you live in SW Florida and your daughter wants to be a witch you don't put a plastic nose on her because when they start to sweat, the nose falls off and everyone can hear, "Mooooooommmmm! My nose just fell off!"

And last but not least I've learned that Halloween Candy, when hid really well so the kids can't find it, has a shelf life of less than 15 years. When we were moving from Florida to here in Georgia and cleaning everything out, throwing stuff away, I found, tucked in a dark corner in a cabinet I rarely used was a small bowl of candy. Some mini Snickers bars, mini KitKats, and a small bag of Candy Corn....imagine my surprise when the kids asked if it was still good and if they could eat it. Opening it up, I found that KitKats will be a long line of chocolate, the wafers long gone, Snickers bars are a gooey mess, and the Candy Corn looked like it might have still been good, but didn't take any chances and threw it away anyhow.