Happy Halloween!

Happy  Halloween, one of a kid's favorite days.  When I think back to my days as a kid on Halloween I realize how different the times are.  Of course this is true of most things but even more so for Halloween.

Here's how a Halloween night shaped up for me.  Go to school as usual where the day proceeded normally.  Never a Halloween party.  Get home from school and hang out for a while until dinner.  After dinner I would get an old cork from our collection, blacken the end of it with a match and smear charcoal all over my face.  Then I would get my old hat, old clothes from somewhere and dress up as a hobo.  Finally I got a stick from the woods and tied a kerchief to the end of it which was filled with a bunch of rags.  Then off I'd go.  I walked to the dozen or so houses within walking distance, collected candy and came home.  Thus endth my Halloween for another year.

As a side note let me point out that the reason I blackened my face was to make it look dirty like I hadn't washed in a long time as you might expect from a hobo. I recently read some posts on Facebook suggestion that people who did that were racists.  How ridiculous!

Halloween today as you all know is very, very different.  First kids buy their costumes.  In fact it's a huge industry.  Then they get driven to a neighborhood where hundreds of other kids have a assembled and besiege the poor home owners after which they are driven home.

One thing though has not changed and never will. Kids still shout "TRICK OR TREAT"!