We'll have fun on Halloween night
Happy Halloween Easy Readers!!!
My fun actually started yesterday will a last minute babysitting gig for Zach. B.J. and Minnie went to a overpriced concert to see a singer from the motherland with some friends of theirs. In honor of the holiday, I gave Zach a small snow-globe of a ghost. I brought over non-scary stories about a Halloween play put on by mice and another story about a ghost who didn't know how to say "boo". Apparently my gift from last time still keep on giving.
Last week B.J. informs that he's seen one kiddie cartoon video of Zach's over 25 times. It's Zach's favorite by far. Every morning before pre-school he asks to see it. When I brought it over I had no idea that it would have an annoying factor to it. What a bonus!! Mission accomplished.
I admit I love daylight savings time. Nothing like getting an extra hour to have fun. I always feel like I'm getting jonesed when the time goes back in the spring. But that's my quirk and I'm sticking with it.
I always get the heebee jeebees around this holiday. I try not to go out just because too many stories of accidents and whatnot. Actually Aunt Imogene was involved in a a serious car accident when I was around eleven or twelve. It was the year, I was a die, single dice, for Halloween. It was B.J.'s idea and I was a great hit. A rarity for this geeky kid to get noticed. Upon hearing of my Halloween costume,Lulubelle decided she would be one too at her school. But this is where our stories fork. I had to take the bus to and from school even though I lived like 20 minutes away because it was too dangerous to cross the busy street with heavy traffic. It wasn't until a stay-at-home mom died in a hit and run after trying to cross that street was another traffic light installed. I envied that Lulubelle had a two car family. Fred was the only parent who drove and never let Ethel learn to drive. Anyway after school on that particular Halloween, I got on the bus as usual and came home.
However in the town of Boonieville, Lulubelle decided that she didn't want to take the bus home and she called Aunt Imogene to come and get her. She never made it to the school and a drunk driver made sure of it. Lulubelle waited and after Aunt Imogene never showed, Lulubelle went to the high school where Beaureguarde was having basketball practice. It was there that they found out that Aunt Imogene was on her way to a hospital. I remember that during her rehabilitation that Aunt Imogene had to learn to walk again using a walker. To this day, she still has lasting effects from the accident in the way of back pain and disc problems. I know life would have been drastically different for all of us if we had lost her that night.
This year I was educated to the modern Chicago Halloween. Beggar's night is totally out. Beggar's night back in the day was the night before Halloween where kids who couldn't afford costumes would go begging from house to house for candy, hence the term. When I informed B.J. of this possibility, he was incensed and showed a side of me that he is now a parent. He told me to "take the names down of the kids who asked for candy" because if they showed up again on Halloween, they weren't going to get any. That just cracked me up. Yeah sure, the local youths are actually going to give their 'real names'. C'mon ask me the one about buying a water tower for a song too?
It was really precious. Zach was trick-or-treating with his mom. The minute he saw grandma and grandpa get out of the car, he didn't want to trick or treat anymore. He wanted to go back to the house and hang out with them. The big pumpkin went over really well. I was impressed that Minnie actually had us come over. There were trick or treaters everywhere and some haunted houses at quite a few homes. Even with the back up Halloween candy I brought over, B.J. and Minnie ran out of candy before the Stan and Terry Show. Some of the kids had great costumes, the fairies, the princesses, the lions, Star Wars favorites, and ghosts. I gave props to the little girl who was dressed up as a football players, complete with pads and all. The most unusual response was from some girl, I'm guessing 12 or 13, who had a big bag of candy collected already. She whined, "I'm hungry" instead of saying "Trick or Treat". I thought "WTH do expect from me to do?" I just gave her candy just the same. I was annoyed at the parents who would bring two kids but would have four bags. And no long story either. They knew the scam.
But they aren't bad as the snotty cheapo suburban parents. One Halloween I worked at Quality Clothing at the McMall. Mall management decided to have all of the stores give out candy on Halloween as an alternative to trick or treating. OMG what a pain in the ass. It was a trend that I could have done without. First of all, the candy was completely gross. It wasn't even the good stuff. I mean the mini- Hershey's, Reeses, Milky-ways, Mounds, etc. We were stuck with these ice-cream shape foam candy crap to pass out. The parents of these kids were obnoxious as anything. The same parents kept making the rounds the entire night. At least five times for one parent. It wasn't like these people were hurting for cash. The amount that these people spent on a blouse at a overly priced designer label store in a day, was probably what my paycheck was for a two-week pay period. I guarantee they were the types who have now become the "helicopter parents" and campaign so Buffy and Chip can get into the college where their money can go.
My most humbling Halloween was the year I lived by the church that had a food pantry. I was walking on my way to the el and I stopped to see this group of 30 or so kids lined up outside the door. There was a lady passing out Lone-Ranger type masks to these kids telling them to get them on because they were going trick or treating. It just broke my heart because I knew if their Halloween was going to be spent at a food pantry, their lives were much tougher than mine.
Although I drove by numerous graveyards, I didn't see Resurrection Mary. If you do, don't forget to give her a ride.
My fun actually started yesterday will a last minute babysitting gig for Zach. B.J. and Minnie went to a overpriced concert to see a singer from the motherland with some friends of theirs. In honor of the holiday, I gave Zach a small snow-globe of a ghost. I brought over non-scary stories about a Halloween play put on by mice and another story about a ghost who didn't know how to say "boo". Apparently my gift from last time still keep on giving.
Last week B.J. informs that he's seen one kiddie cartoon video of Zach's over 25 times. It's Zach's favorite by far. Every morning before pre-school he asks to see it. When I brought it over I had no idea that it would have an annoying factor to it. What a bonus!! Mission accomplished.
I admit I love daylight savings time. Nothing like getting an extra hour to have fun. I always feel like I'm getting jonesed when the time goes back in the spring. But that's my quirk and I'm sticking with it.
I always get the heebee jeebees around this holiday. I try not to go out just because too many stories of accidents and whatnot. Actually Aunt Imogene was involved in a a serious car accident when I was around eleven or twelve. It was the year, I was a die, single dice, for Halloween. It was B.J.'s idea and I was a great hit. A rarity for this geeky kid to get noticed. Upon hearing of my Halloween costume,Lulubelle decided she would be one too at her school. But this is where our stories fork. I had to take the bus to and from school even though I lived like 20 minutes away because it was too dangerous to cross the busy street with heavy traffic. It wasn't until a stay-at-home mom died in a hit and run after trying to cross that street was another traffic light installed. I envied that Lulubelle had a two car family. Fred was the only parent who drove and never let Ethel learn to drive. Anyway after school on that particular Halloween, I got on the bus as usual and came home.
However in the town of Boonieville, Lulubelle decided that she didn't want to take the bus home and she called Aunt Imogene to come and get her. She never made it to the school and a drunk driver made sure of it. Lulubelle waited and after Aunt Imogene never showed, Lulubelle went to the high school where Beaureguarde was having basketball practice. It was there that they found out that Aunt Imogene was on her way to a hospital. I remember that during her rehabilitation that Aunt Imogene had to learn to walk again using a walker. To this day, she still has lasting effects from the accident in the way of back pain and disc problems. I know life would have been drastically different for all of us if we had lost her that night.
This year I was educated to the modern Chicago Halloween. Beggar's night is totally out. Beggar's night back in the day was the night before Halloween where kids who couldn't afford costumes would go begging from house to house for candy, hence the term. When I informed B.J. of this possibility, he was incensed and showed a side of me that he is now a parent. He told me to "take the names down of the kids who asked for candy" because if they showed up again on Halloween, they weren't going to get any. That just cracked me up. Yeah sure, the local youths are actually going to give their 'real names'. C'mon ask me the one about buying a water tower for a song too?
It was really precious. Zach was trick-or-treating with his mom. The minute he saw grandma and grandpa get out of the car, he didn't want to trick or treat anymore. He wanted to go back to the house and hang out with them. The big pumpkin went over really well. I was impressed that Minnie actually had us come over. There were trick or treaters everywhere and some haunted houses at quite a few homes. Even with the back up Halloween candy I brought over, B.J. and Minnie ran out of candy before the Stan and Terry Show. Some of the kids had great costumes, the fairies, the princesses, the lions, Star Wars favorites, and ghosts. I gave props to the little girl who was dressed up as a football players, complete with pads and all. The most unusual response was from some girl, I'm guessing 12 or 13, who had a big bag of candy collected already. She whined, "I'm hungry" instead of saying "Trick or Treat". I thought "WTH do expect from me to do?" I just gave her candy just the same. I was annoyed at the parents who would bring two kids but would have four bags. And no long story either. They knew the scam.
But they aren't bad as the snotty cheapo suburban parents. One Halloween I worked at Quality Clothing at the McMall. Mall management decided to have all of the stores give out candy on Halloween as an alternative to trick or treating. OMG what a pain in the ass. It was a trend that I could have done without. First of all, the candy was completely gross. It wasn't even the good stuff. I mean the mini- Hershey's, Reeses, Milky-ways, Mounds, etc. We were stuck with these ice-cream shape foam candy crap to pass out. The parents of these kids were obnoxious as anything. The same parents kept making the rounds the entire night. At least five times for one parent. It wasn't like these people were hurting for cash. The amount that these people spent on a blouse at a overly priced designer label store in a day, was probably what my paycheck was for a two-week pay period. I guarantee they were the types who have now become the "helicopter parents" and campaign so Buffy and Chip can get into the college where their money can go.
My most humbling Halloween was the year I lived by the church that had a food pantry. I was walking on my way to the el and I stopped to see this group of 30 or so kids lined up outside the door. There was a lady passing out Lone-Ranger type masks to these kids telling them to get them on because they were going trick or treating. It just broke my heart because I knew if their Halloween was going to be spent at a food pantry, their lives were much tougher than mine.
Although I drove by numerous graveyards, I didn't see Resurrection Mary. If you do, don't forget to give her a ride.
posted by Starla Spaulding @ 8:53 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home