Sunday, November 01, 2009

The Last Hurrah!

My third son is 16 years old now, but decided he needed to go trick or treating one last time. The past couple of years he hasn't gone, but instead has dressed up in costume and stood in the neighbor's yard to help scare kids. lol I guess he is feeling his youth slipping away, because he wanted to make sure he went at least one more time. He said after he turns 18 he won't be able to go anymore. As it was, some people said, "Aren't you too old to trick or treat?" I think I stopped trick or treating about 14. It was a sad Halloween for me, but I did dress up like a ghost and stood on top of our house to scare the kids that went by, so it was fun after all.

My daughter says she will trick or treat until she is an old lady. But when I asked her about this year, she said she didn't even go to a party. This is the kid that used to bring home, and I don't exaggerate, 10 lbs of candy each Halloween. She had so much candy that she couldn't eat it all, and I would find bags of it in her closet a year later! A friend of mine lets her kids eat for three days, then throws out the rest. My view is like that of my blogger friend at Neverbored who figures it is self correcting. They learn quickly not to over indulge. My kids' candy is usually gone within a few days anyway.

I know I'm 48 years old, but I still enjoy Halloween. But this year my oldest son gave out the candy, and my youngest son went out with friends, so I didn't need to go with him. So I didn't really get the full effect of Halloween. I kind of like walking along in the dark looking at all of the different costumes. I love going to the spooky houses.

California does decorations big. We have houses that have huge blow up decorations, along with lights and ghosts, and people dressed up to scare kids. One house near us has a pair of skeletons that are synchronised to talk to each other. They are laying in lawn chairs and they tell each other knock knock jokes. I saw a really creepy one at The Spirit Store that was a body laying on the ground. When you walk near it, it is activated and it starts crawling toward you. That would have scared the giblets out of me as a kid, and I probably would have been traumatized. I was scared stiff of just an ordinary house that had a dark courtyard I had to go through to get to the front door.

My son may never go trick or treating again, but I think he will find that he can still have fun on Halloween. Some friends of ours used to hold annual halloween parties to play bunko. My husband and I dressed up as Fred and Wilma Flintstone. The church has their annual "Trunk or Treat" and he and I dress up and give out candy from the back of our car there. I guess we are proof that you are never too old for Halloween!

Oh, and here is a picture of my son in his Halloween costume. I ran out of time at the end and had to cut a few corners, but it passed for Halloween anyway. It's nice to know that I raised a kid who has the self esteem to wear something this silly. lol Oh, and it isn't in this picture, but I made him a Santa sack to use to collect candy. ;)

6 comments:

Nene said...

HE IS 16 NOW! Holy Cow! Why did I think he was only about 14? You should have taken a picture of ya'll as Wilma and Fred. :0)

Nene said...

Wait, I read your blog again and now I'm confused as to which one is 16. You said your 3rd son? Not your 2nd son?

Delirious said...

Sorry, I should have said third child instead of third son. You are right, it is my second son.

Inklings said...

Mom made me stop trick-or-treating after age 11. :0)
I figure the sooner the Halloween candy is gone, the better, although Dr. Psycho used to freeze his and then the other kids would be jealous when theirs was gone. Maybe that was his intention?

Nene said...

After I read your post again, I figured that is what you meant. I thought he was the same age as Gilbert Girl's oldest.

Amber said...

Keira used to hoard her Halloween candy forever too. Halloween is much more fun when you have little kids to help celebrate it.