What were you?

 

Sawyer's kindergarten teacher sent home a list of ideas to go over with your child for the month of October. There's not enough paper to actually print up homework sheets (thanks to the budget cuts) so I guess this is a stand-in.

There are actually some cute things on there. And the one that stood out the most was this:

"Ask an adult in your family what their favorite Halloween costume was as a child, and draw a picture of it."

Yes! I love Halloween! It's my absolute favorite holiday! The people give you candy! For free! What could be better? I'd spend weeks - months! - planning my costume.

So, my favorite one was.. uh...um....

Yeah. I could only come up with a single costume. From fourth grade.

Now in those days, way back when we had to walk to school uphill in the snow - both ways - costumes were usually home-made. Because just one time wearing a cheap scratchy plastic mask with the skinny gray elastic digging into the back of your head was really enough.

The costume I remember was made by my sister. I woke up the morning of the school's costume parade (yes, clearly this was a LONG time ago when they actually allowed stuff like this) and asked my sister if she'd finished making it.

She looked at me like I was nuts. Seems she'd woken me up the night before to show me it. Really? I had no idea.

But I was SO excited. I was going to be Mother Nature. I wore a flowing white sheet for my dress. She'd attached paper flowers to these fake gold necklaces, and made a flowered head band.

I also carried a sign that read "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature."

I didn't win the costume contest. I was robbed. Clearly.

The only other costume that stands out was my brother's one year. He was a scarecrow, and wore a broomstick under a big shirt. Problem was, he couldn't fit on anyone's front stoop. So I had to collect all his candy while gesturing back to him as he waited by the street. Just in case they thought I was taking it all for myself. Which is totally something I would do.

The worst was when Mom made you wear a coat - OVER YOUR COSTUME!! That was the only downside of Halloween in Connecticut, where I grew up. Otherwise, the leaves were crisp, the pumpkins didn't rot in the heat, and the atmosphere was perfect.

We carried pillow cases to put our candy in. This was so we could get MORE than if we just used a regular old bag. Then we'd get home and pour it all on the floor and trade.

And then we'd stuff our faces.

I guess when I look back, it was the excitement in the air, the great times we had - a whole bunch of us riding in the back of a pickup truck while the driver tried to run over every curbside leaf piles, could you even IMAGINE letting your kids do that now? - that I really remember.

I hope that my little skeleton, ballerina witch and pumpkin will also look back on their childhoods and remember the fun, if not the fabric.

How about you? What was YOUR favorite costume or Halloween memory?