Thread: For the love of the holiday

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I've been a member of this forum for a while now and am just getting around to really being active in it. While reading a lot of the posts, it's bringing back some great memories. Because I had such wonderful Halloweens as a child, I want to create that same love in my children. But it's not just the holiday itself, it's the season that's so rich so I thought I would share mine...

Looking out my window as a child, I saw the beautiful colors of fall that made me want to walk outside. The crisp, straw colored grass, the leaves of crimson, orange and yellow. When I did, I was met with the sweet smell of burning leaves and chilly breezes that swirled around me as I swung over leaf piles on my tire swing, willing to jump in cannon-ball style. Walking through the yard created a crunching of acorns and dried leaves and the sunset was vivid red beneath a clear blue sky. As I looked up, the ghostly image of the full moon at dusk reminded me that Halloween was fast approaching. My dad would buy a pumpkin so we could carve it out in the scariest face I could come up with. My mom would pull out an old pair of overalls and a flannel shirt that I stuffed with newspaper and topped with a blow mold pumpkin head and straw hat. Then anxiously waiting for "The Great Pumpkin" to air because nobody owned movies at that time where you could watch it whenever you wanted. At school, the classrooms were adorned with paper cut outs of witches, ghosts and bats hanging from the ceilings and we made endless projects of jack o' lanterns to tape on the walls. The teachers would lead us in wonderfully spooky songs about pumpkins and we would talk about what we were going to be on that one wonderful night. The one night we were actually allowed to stay up late and sneak around in the night, giggling and trying to scare our friends by jumping out from behind the bushes. The thrill of trying to muster enough courage to approach the one haunted house on the street. Running from house to house in large droves guided only by moonlight and glow sticks that shone an eerie green, filling our pillowcases with candy that we couldn't wait to pour out on the floor when we got home- in neighborhoods where all the porch lights beckoned in ghostly amber. When scarecrows and carved pumpkins adorned every yard and porch. When the adults were just as happy to give out the treats as we were to accept them.
These are the love and memories I wish my children could carry away with them although I know the times have changed. But, there are fewer and fewer porch lights on. Maybe if enough of us could keep the holiday alive....

Feel free to share your best Halloween memories! I would love to hear what it was that made you still love the best holiday of the year.

I couldnt agree with you more. Everything you put pretty much mirrors my own memories.

I absolutely loved reading that. It filled me with excitement and anticipation...just as if I were a child again.

I've loved Halloween for as long as I can remember. My birthday is in October, so my mother almost always had a Halloween-ish party for me (except that one year I had the New Kids on the Block theme...don't judge me LOL) I remember once October would roll around, I would anticipate that one Sunday afternoon when my mom would take me shopping for my costume. And the day I would come home after school and see my mom's big pumpkin blowmold in the bay window. I'd hop off the school bus and run up the driveway as fast as I could to get in the house and see all of our decorations up once again. I too, remember learning those beloved Halloween songs in school: "Scoop out the inside of a pumpkin. Make a mouth, a nose and two big eyes. Put a light inside your pumpkin ~ and you'll have a Halloween surprise! " Where I grew up, the last day of school before Halloween, each classroom would have a Halloween party. Moms would send their kids off to school with baked goodies and treats for the entire class. And on that day, before all the parties, each and every child and even the teachers, would put on their costumes and we would have a parade in the school field. I remember being so excited to show off my costume. And couldn't wait to see my mom and grandma amongst the sea of family members watching the parade. Of course, throughout the month of October, my family would carve pumpkins grown in our backyard and roast the seeds. It kills me when I see folks on TV cleaning out a pumpkin and just throw away the seeds. And I still can't get over the fact that some of my friends grew up never carving a pumpkin as a child. So sad to me. There's nothing like the smell of a pumpkin. To this day, once I get the lid off of a pumpkin, I stick my face over the opening, close my eyes and take a big whiff.....brings me right back to childhood. I remember, on Halloween night, just about every year, my family and I would be sitting down to dinner before going trick or treating, and kids would already start ringing the doorbell. I remember getting myself in a panic that I was going to miss everything. Every time the doorbell rang, I'd run to the bay window to scope out our street. The air on Halloween smells different to me. Call me crazy..but it does. It was always filled with the smell of fire....and something else I just can't put my finger on. To this day, the smell of a fire reminds me of Halloween. Ahh the memories! Halloween is hands down my favorite time of year. I still and will always celebrate in one way or another.

This is exactly why I do the biggest and coolest haunt I can. So kids can have sweet memories when they get older. I remember too almost every houses with decorations and pumkins, filling multiple times our pillow cases. I seen such a huge drop in the last 20 years. I
see it's my duty to keep and make Halloween alive and do a comeback. And it's working. Since we moved in my neighborhood, we inspired mannnny of my neighbours (they personaly told me) and now, almost every house have some decorations! (proud of it!)

This is an excellent post and not only do you speak my exact thoughts of Fall and Halloween, but the thoughts of almost everyone here. It's interesting how we all share these same types of memories of our beloved season. Thank you for sharing your words and thoughts!

That is so awesome, osenator. Way to keep the Halloween spirit alive!