Don’t you just love Halloween?
It’s always been one of my favorite holidays. Christmas, of course, carries with it the
excitement of church and school pageants, gifts and visits to family. But when
we were kids, Halloween was just for fun. For using our imaginations, trying to
scare ourselves silly. For stuffing ourselves with caramel apples, popcorn
balls and home made cookies.
I remember the excitement of choosing just the right plastic
mask and flimsy costume (the ones that tied in the back) from the dime store. Trekking
through the lamp-lit streets of our
little town with my sisters and neighbors, peering through the mask and lugging
my plastic jack o’lantern for treats. I remember cutting through a pasture near
our home and then running like the dickens to get away from the cows pastured
there. They were just curious heifers, but in the dark they were BIG, SNORTING
BEASTS. Very different from the friendly
companions of the daytime, who would come and eat from our hands. On Halloween
night, shadows held monsters, witches rode the skies and anything was possible.
When my boys were little, Halloween meant trips to the
fabric store to find just the right pattern and fabric to make costumes –
dinosaurs with removable heads and dragging tails, alligators (same costume
with a little ingenuity and a different head), Ninja turtles, cops, firemen,
ninjas, Frankenstein and army rangers. All the fun of planning how to make
parts move, look kind of realistic, and keep growing boys warm on a Halloween
night in the Rocky Mountains. One year we held a carnival in the school – the
whole town came. We played games, and the children trick-or-treated around the gym.
Now that all of us are too big to trick-or-treat and schools
are too focused on surviving The Test to have time for Halloween parties and
parades, I enjoy the little princesses and space-ninjas who come to my door to
yell (or mumble, prompted by a parent a short distance behind)
‘Trick-or-treat!’
And I still enjoy scaring myself – just a little – with a
spooky movie or story. Sometimes I even spin them myself. I think a good
romance should be like a Halloween
costume – it should fit the mood you’re in this season. Do you want to
be a princess this year, honey? Or a warrior who can kick the ass of any man
she meets? Or how about a cowgirl ridin’ the range with a handsome cowboy? Or
perhaps someone a bit edgier – a vampire, or even a demon queen?
You don’t even have to dress up, girlfriend. Just curl up
with a great story, and let that new romance carry you away into a world where
magic is still possible.
Trick or Treat!
Cathryn
Cade
Best-selling author of red hot
romance
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6 comments:
I love Halloween too. I especially love that it's just for fun. And chocolate. Can't forget chocolate. My kids are grown too and I miss going through their stash and begging for candy, usually chocolate but sometimes I'd choose something that reminded me of my childhood, a tootsie pop, or a butterscotch candy. And as you said, it's a great time for a scary story or two!
Halloween is so much fun! I agree with Tammy about the chocolate!
Cathryn, you are right in that part of Halloween's charm is that it is just for fun and dressing up.
Growing up Halloween was one of my favorite holidays because we could dress up.
Loved your post, because I love Halloween. Your post brought back so many good memories from my childhood and when my children were small. I made them Halloween costumes each year. This year I was in the mood again and made my oldest daughter a black and red reversible, full length witches cape. Her and her husband have a Halloween party every year. Kids and adults are invited. They've been doing this for 20 some years. So I guess the love of Halloween never goes away!
Fun post, Cathryn. Maybe I will encourage my granddaughter to go Trick or Treating (is 17 too old) so I can beg for a few pieces of candy - a Butterfinger or Snicker's bar anyone?
Very cool, Diana, that you made a witch's cape for your daughter.
It really isn't such a huge thing here. We have a few children come round trick or treating, but normally we go to our local zoo because they do late night opening over the week leading up to Halloween. Last year we got to hear the wolves howling! Now that was scary.
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