Trick or Treat and Kitchen Shears....

Well, it is officially Halloween here in the Midwestern section of the Untied States. Later this afternoon children from all over the neighborhood will descend upon our front door in their sweet, strange, scary and funny costumes. I love to see the littlest ones - perhaps it is their first official "trick or treat" outing - they look confused and a bit frightened - I gently speak to them, offer them a candy and snicker inwardly to myself as I know that mom and dad will have a child climbing the walls due to the upcoming sugar rush that will possess their little darling in a few short hours. Perhaps that is the "trick" of the evening. 

Regardless of the effect on the local children, I have my sweet treats ready for passing out when their pilgrimage brings them to my door.  I have such fond memories of Halloween when I was a child. There was always a party at school, we would all dress in costume, the room mother's would bring cupcakes and we would all bring candy to pass out to each other and then we would all vote on best costume. Then later after dinner, we would grab our plastic pumpkins or brown paper market bags and out we'd go to greedily beg sweets from every house in the neighborhood and the adjoining neighborhood if we were brave enough to wander into places unfamiliar by day and even more so by night. Then we would shuffle home and start the gorging. Anything homemade was checked over, for even in the good old days there were tales of razor blades in the popcorn balls and drugs in the candied apples. However, all pre-wrapped candy and gum was open season. 

Now, please don't think that we just poured our loot out onto the table and had at it, oh no - this was a synchronized maneuver. Candy bars in a pile to the left, suckers to the right, gum in the middle, etc... The candy we knew we'd never eat had a special pile all its own to be given sweetly to dear old dad the next day (for as we know, dad's will eat just about any sweet, at least mine would.) Then the candy eating frenzy would begin in earnest. First the chocolate, then the fruity bits and on and on until someone would say, "I have a stomach ache." Or as happened to me when I was eight... my best friend and I had a sleep over at my house, we had devoured the chocolate and so forth and had started to stuff the gum into our mouths until our cheeks were ready to split - the old "how much can you fit and chew" scheme. Then for some odd reason we fell asleep (must have been the temporary sugar coma,) but wait it gets better because we woke back up and guess who had the biggest sickly pink wad of gum stuck in her hair - her hair that had over the year grown out of its pixie cut and into the long and lovely Marcia Brady silky swing - yep - you got it - no pulling the wool (haha - knitters should get this reference) over your eyes, it was ME!!!


We tried every home remedy known to man - peanut butter - rubbing alcohol - regular old baby shampoo - ice - you name it we tried it and then horror of horrors my dad walks in with the kitchen shears. Long, sharp silver blades ready to slice away my rich brown locks that I had been growing for a year. It was trick time for me - I went right back to that ugly short pixie cut - there was no saving any of the length that I had waited so long for it to grow. Let's just say there were tears - not minutes mind - days and days of tears and no sympathy from the parental units, not one bit. However, it must be said that my friend was completely supportive throughout the entire ordeal. By the end of that upcoming summer, my hair had grown back quite a bit and as with many things the trauma of the Halloween gum trick was fading from memory.


So, here's to all the fun to be had later this evening. Just give a listen and take this advice - Save the gum treats for tomorrow during the daylight hours. You'll be glad you did.


Tricks and Treats to you all....
The Green Girl