Halloween Reminisce
31. Oct, 2009 
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I’ve been spending the weekend organizing and moving, with a break in the middle to help Karen’s son Eric move.
As we were finishing up packing Eric’s things, the trick-or-treaters were hitting the street. Two cute little girls (dressed as ‘Death’ and a Vampire) came walking by and Karen struck up a conversation with their mom who was in attendance.
Karen’s question to the mom surprised me: “Does it end at 8 o’clock?”
Trick or Treating ends at a set time? Since when?
On the rise home and before sitting down at the PC, I thought back a little bit to my days of mischief nights and Halloween, and I’m kind of blown away by how much things have changed: girls dressed as Death? (Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but when I was growing up, girls dressed as ballerinas, witches and Barbie; maybe a Bride of Dracula or Bride of Frankenstein for the older girls) Trick or Treating has a time limit? I remember going and hitting houses up until midnight!
And of course, the entire holiday is much more muted than in my youth. I remember virtual trains of kids walking down the street – not onsies-twosies. And, at least around here, hardly anyone dresses their house up anymore.
Fandom has changed? So has Halloween.
I grew up, and enjoyed Halloween, in a simpler, more innocent, trusting time. In the 1950s, people handed out caramel apples to the kids. Later some nut put razor blades in some and the entire practice stopped. One person ruins it for everyone. The power. It’s like that for everything these days. Children can’t go out alone, can’t trust the people in the houses, can’t trust the candy. We used to get many children, now we get a dozen, maybe, all little ones accompanied by a parent. One mom had a can of pepper spray, “just in case” she said. There were no time limits for me either, it was when the porch lights went out.
All of the costumes I saw last night were home made. That’s a good sign, the cheesy plastic masks and such don’t impress me much.