Wednesday, October 16, 2013

I love Halloween



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:

Tammy J. Palmer said...

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!

Sarah Raplee said...

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.

Paty Jager said...

Growing up Halloween was one of my favorite holidays because we could dress up.

Diana McCollum said...

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!

Judith Ashley said...

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.

Pippa Jay said...

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.