"A childrens' holiday"

That's actually kind of how I think of Halloween. I was never one for the "grown up" (though really, not very grown up, I think) type of party with grain alcohol dyed funny colors and an expectation that a certain percentage of the women would show up in a costume that could be adjectivized by the term "sexy" or "slutty" (normally I hate those kinds of costumes, but this "equal time" one made me kind of laugh).

And I never liked horror movies particularly much; I would be the person sitting with her hands clamped over her eyes during the worse parts. (Heck, I am like that during some of the medical-procedures shows or stuff like "Untold Stories of the ER." Even if I know the "untold stories" are all goofy recreations and that's not REALLY someone's eye that's bulged out of its socket, but a prop)

And I'm not really a big one for what I call "enforced fun" - you know, the memo goes 'round, "Everyone is expected to show up in a funny costume tomorrow and we will have prizes" or something like that. Or for going to the grocery store and having a rubber spider fall down from the ceiling on me (one of the local groceries where I used to live used to do that kind of stuff. It's fine when you're in the mood for it, but when it's 4 pm, you're tired, you're out of milk, you need something for dinner, and you need to get all that done and get home before the neighbor kids start showing up to trick or treat - not so much)

I like dressing up, though, just as long as it's not something I'm forced to do. I did wear my pumpkin hat today (I grabbed a quick photo of it but will have to upload that at home, as the photo is on diskette (I know, I know) and I can't upload from those in my office 'puter any more).

But when I think of Halloween, I think of little kids dressing up. And getting to have parties at school (as I said before, the Halloween party was a big deal. We had three parties a year: Halloween, "holiday" (Christmas but it wasn't explicitly called that), and Valentine's Day). And doing "parades" at the end of the school day. And then going out trick or treating that evening. I remember when I saw "E.T." in the theater - that would have been maybe 1982, so I would have been what, 11? - being a bit startled that the kids in that community (in the movie) trick or treated during the DAY. And I remember thinking, "That's kind of a rip-off." I liked going out at night. Yes, I suppose, it's more dangerous. But my parents or another trusted adult always went with my brother and me, we were careful, we carried flashlights, we made sure cars could see us. And the street we lived on didn't have that much traffic anyway, other than the people who lived there, and most of them knew to watch out for trick or treaters.Going out at night made it different and special; to me, going out during the day would have made it feel like, I don't know, selling Girl Scout Cookies.

I was never afraid of the dark, perhaps that was part  of the going-out-at-night thing being fun and special for me. It was cool to see my street in the dark, it was cool to run into friends and see what they had dressed up as. It was interesting to see people I knew but had never been to the houses of before (a lot of our neighbors I mainly knew from seeing them walking their dogs or when they came by our house for some reason. A few people decorated for Halloween (more than just having Jack o Lanterns out) but it wasn't to the level it is now. (There was one family....well, I didn't like going to their house because they always had some "scare' feature where someone jumped out of something at the trick or treaters and it was just a bit much. Usually we waited for a bigger group of kids and tagged in after them

As I've said before, the big fun for me was (a) being out after dark and having a sanctioned reason to go see neighbors (for a shy kid, it was honestly a bit of a thrill to be able to walk up to someone's door and knock on it, and know what to say when they opened it) and (b) being able to wear a costume. The candy was actually secondary, and a lot of it wound up being thrown away around Thanksgiving or so. (Oh, my brother and I ate the chocolate and things that were "good" like caramels, but the stuff we didn't like wound up getting pitched. Once in a while we would trade stuff; when I had braces I remember trading all the sticky stuff I got to my brother for non-sticky-stuff.)

(Heh, And now in another year or two my brother gets to do this with HIS kid. I bet he will enjoy taking her out trick or treating, he seems to really relish being able to relive the childhood fun things through her)

One of my colleagues just came to notify me: apparently some of the students have decided to dress up as certain faculty for Halloween. So far, he said, he and I were represented. I have not gone to see "my person," but he tells me she has a sweater with a shawl on over. Okay, that's pretty innocuous. If somebody was going full-on Madam Trelawney look (messy hair, thick glasses, slightly mismatched bohemian clothing) and passing it off as me, I might be a little uncomfortable but....okay. I can roll with it.

(Also, it's supposed to be in the upper 70s today so that shawl is gonna get uncomfortable fast. But she may not know that from experience)


ETA: I finally happened to see her in the hall. Nicely played, I give her a 7.5/10. Shawl over sweater vest, check. Little fuzzy knitted purse like what I carry my keys in when I don't have a pocket, check. Birkenstock sandals, check.

However, if she wanted to do a full-on impression, she should have worn a dress or skirt (I usually do except on fieldwork days) and maybe added a pair of fingerless mitts to the mix. (If you're parodying how someone dresses, you need to really parody it). She also could have mussed her hair up a bit more but it's the wrong color (too light) and texture (too straight) to really work.