HALLOWEEN

So we only had 14 Trick or Treaters last night.  This is the lowest number we have ever had in this house.  (31 years)  Which led me to remember Halloween growing up.

Homes crammed next to each other (although bigger yards than now), one after another make for a
lot of families with kids.  Growing up, my 2 older brothers and I would take off with large grocery bags as soon as it got dark and RUN (seriously run) house to house.  I remember it was hard for me to keep
up.  They were constantly yelling at me to hurry up, since they couldn't leave me.  This probably started when I was 6; and my brothers were 8 and 10.  And it continued until I
was deemed old enough to go by myself, or to be stuck taking my younger brother.  We had those stiff plastic masks held on with a thin elastic band, that were sweaty inside 5 seconds after putting them on, and had tiny eye holes.  So you're sweating, running, and you can't see where you're going.  And you're trying to hang on to a paper sack that's getting heavier by the minute.

We hit as many houses as we could before dinner; and returned home to eat and dump out our bags.  Anything we didn't want or that was unwrapped, we donated to the bowl by the front door to be given out again. After dinner, we took off again until we had hit every house in the large neighborhood.  Blocks and blocks of houses.  When we would get to a front door, there would most likely be 15 other kids there and more coming up the sidewalk.  I know that when I was put on front door duty it was difficult to close the front door because just as you finished handing out candy to one group, there was another bunch.  Typically, we had over 300 Trick or Treaters every Halloween.  The light was turned off when we ran out of candy, or it was decided it was late enough.

Certainly different from today's Halloween.  I can't imagine letting my small children go out by themselves; and for hours at a time.  Now it's politically incorrect to even call the holiday by its
name.  It has become the Fall Festival or some other name; and the kids aren't even allowed to wear
costumes to school anymore.

I predict in 10 years (or less) the door-to-door Trick or Treating will be no more.