Halloween is coming!

It will soon be Halloween and the gouls and goblins will be out trick or treating. Do any of you do anything different or special for this holiday? I make my popcorn cake but roll it into individual balls wrapped in orange cellophane with dark brown ribbon. I take them to the Nursing home and to the home for battered women and children. The kids and the seniors faces light up , its magical...

chatty, our tradition will change this year because all the kids are gone. Last year my daughter had some friends here for dinner, then they went trick or treating (at age 18). Some of the kid's parents stayed along with my dad and sister. I think we had as much fun as the kids.

This year the tradition will have to change. I think we'll have to invite some couples over or else I'll miss the comotion too much.

I've made your popcorn cake before and it was a hit. Very gooey, but crunchy and delicious too.

Well, we were going to do something different, but we've changed our minds. I won tickets to the Halloween Ball at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, MA. Typically, I don't go into or drive through Salem the whole month of October. Because Salem is famous for witches, etc, with the Witch Museum and the Witch House and all, it is unbelievable at Halloween. Every night in October, there is something going on and the traffic is horrendous. Parking is impossible and the closer it gets to Halloween, the worse it gets.

The Halloween Ball is an elaborate affair. The tickets are hard to come by. They go for $80 each. Since we got married at the Hawthorne, go there for dinner a lot and I am having my daughter's baby showere there and I love dressing up and have always wanted to go to this thing, I thought I'd get a room and spend the haunted night. (There would be absolutely nowhere to park.)

There are no rooms left. They sell out a year in advance for this shindig! Who knew? So I decided it's not worth renting a costume (or going through the trouble of making one)and not knowing how we would get there and home. I work with a doctor who is going with another couple. He thinks I should go with them as "road warriors." I was thinking more along the lines of being Scarlett O'Hara. Didn't think I could fit in a cab in my green velvet gown with the curtain rod attached to it though. So, I've decided to sell the tickets to him. He knows people who want to go and can't get tickets. I'll just stay home and eat candy corn.

Louisa

I love decorating outside my house and inside! I don't know why, but I love halloween...always did. No kids here but I am looking forward to seeing what my little 4 month old granddaughter will be!! I love opening the door for all the kids in the neighborhood. They are precious. What I don't like are the teenagers that don't get dressed up and just go door to door for candy in their everyday clothes. And most of all, I can't stand when they don't say "thank you"!

We have a party, usually pizza at my office every year. Some get dressed up in costumes and others wear just a silly hat. It has always been fun and we tend to use any reason in my office to have a party!

It is strange, because I think of myself as a bit theatrical, but I hate this holiday. Maybe it is all of the years of teaching, and kids getting hyper from all of the candy.

I simply spend the evening handing out candy and hoping it all is gone at the end of the night so that I do not gain the weight or get to hyper myself.

I miss Halloween, the bwa-har-har and jack-o-lanterns! It's not the done thing here and I miss terrorising little children on the only legit day that I can. On the last Halloween we celebrated in NYC, my neighbour got all health conscious, she gave out toothbrushes instead. That really bummed out the kids. What a cracker!

Lola...that is hilarious~toothbrushes~did she get her door egged?

Hi, Leslie: No egging was allowed in the building but wet paper balls did the business. I also remember someone had stuffed gum in the keyhole.

Pam, your office sounds like fun, but don't you all gain weight?

Louisa, act now. Get your tickets for next year and spend the night. That sounds wonderful. You've mentioned before that you like to get dressed up so I think you should go for it.

Anne, do we have to wait to see what the surprise is?

Anno, there a trick to figuring out exactly how much candy to buy so you don't have any left over...and I don't know the trick.

Lola, toothbrushes? I'm surprised she didn't have a few of them stuck in her flower pots or something.

auntiebear, I recall the eighth grade boys egging Sr. Anina's classroom windows. Can you say detention? I don't know how the nuns got to the bottom of those ordeals, but they always did.

Halloween has always been one of my favorite yearly events. This year, I'll be spending it with my grandkids. I'll be out with them, on their neighborhood's designated Trick or Treat evening. Of course, I'll be in costume! Then, on the 31st., I'll be home, answering the doorbell, and passing out the Treats.

I also enjoy creating online stories, starring my grandkids, and I'm happily working on one now, for their Halloween Treat...

The Fellowship of the Long Abandoned Road

www.intouchwithjeannine.com

Jeannine, you are an awesome woman...

Jeannine,you are fabulously cool grandma!!! How lucky are your grandchildren!

Chatty, Leslie, thanks for the lovely words. Honestly, though, every woman here is absolutely amazing! Why, this is the finest group of online gals I've ever met! I feel quite fortunate to be a participant on these forums.

As for me as a Grandma...I've discovered that my Grandkids offer an opportunity for me to really 'be all that I can be', with children, sans that very sobering fact of the responsibility for their everyday care. And too, I think as a Grams, I have that extra added bonus of being totally free to be me, unrestricted by the boundaries that our own children often set for us. I mean, would I have ever
drawn attention from my daughters' friends, their Mothers, by romping happily at the playground? When my daughters had reached that 'age of everything affects their standing in the eyes of their peers' stage? No indeed! Why every Mom knows, she must conform to some unspoken rule of behavior, where her kids are concerned. Heaven forbid, a Mother's actions ever lead to unwanted attention for her children!

Grandmothers are, thankfully, on another level, in the eyes of their Grandkids! As far as they are concerned, we're wonderful, ever-loving, can-bake-a-batch-of-cookies-in-a-wink, never-at-a-loss-for-something-neat-to-do, close-to-knowing-all-about-everything, magical beings!


www.intouchwithjeannine.com

Jeanine, you make grandmothering sound like such fun.

I saw Katie's costume today. She is going to be a Lady Bug! Adorable and cute as a button. Of course, no candy, (Mommy and Daddy will have to eat that. At 4 months all she gets is Oatmeal cereal with formula!! (Yuk) Next year will be more fun!

Traditionally, I hate Halloween. I was always a pillowcase with slits for eyes. This makes for bumps and bruises when running into trees and falling over garbage cans. I wanted to be Cinderella!

Then when I was divorced and my children were babies, I was broken into on HW night. I've never gotten over it. We were alseep in our beds at the time.

BUT...........this year I have Lea and Katie. Lea is a cheerleader and Katie is ...what else? A bug! Katiebug...that's her nickname. I can't wait! So maybe this is the year I put my fear of Halloween behind me and enjoy it once more. And I don't even have to wear a pillowcase! Wuhoooo!

CinderPillow

I always watch "Bell, Book & Candle" with Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak, while having donuts & apple cider. It's a tradition that goes back about 20 years now and I never get tired of that movie.

There is a movie they play every year called Halloween Towne with Debbie Reynolds and I love watching it. There is another one with Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker, in it they are Witches and it is so funny but I can't remember the name. DRAT, brain drain!!

Hocus Pocus...I love that show. It's so cute. JJ

Ladies, if you haven't looked at Jeanine's story she is creating for her grankids, you must. She is so dang creative. Please take the time to check it out!

My neighbor is hosting our monthly Bunko party this month and wants all of us to dress up. I'm at a loss - I want to be comfortable, but different.

I scrounged through my closets and the only thing I found was a graduation cap and gown from my son. I was thinking I would wear that, and hang a sign around my neck that said something like:

Graduate of:
Mom School
Wife School
Chauffer School
Cooking School
Laundry School

etc, etc. Anybody have any other "life" schools I could add? Thought that might be interesting, since we are always learning!

Sex Goddess School
Gardening School

If you want to be REALLY comfortable, wear one of your wicking gowns and fuzzy houseshoes, get a pacifier and hang it around your neck and carry a teddy bear with you. You could always wear boxer shorts underneath, if too cool. Yes?

JJ

Oooh, Sex Goddess School! Where do I sign up? Actually, I failed Gardening School, but that would be fun to show my grades for each thing on the sign.

Yes, the jammies would be a good idea. Then I could just walk back across the street from the party and fall right into bed! Hmmmm, what to wear, what to wear?

When we were dating in college my ex-husband and I wore fake wedding bands to his fraternity party. We said it was the scariest thing we could think of...didn't know at the time that it really was...