Halloween is a favorite holiday for me. I LOVE the memories I have of trick-or-treating with my friends, unworried about all the ugliness in the world. My concentration was on coming up with a costume (we never bought them at the store), and making sure I had a large container to carry and my flashlight worked. My friends and I would head to the housing addition next to ours, where the houses were a bit closer together and most people had their lights on, happy to participate in the holiday. We would return a couple of hours later, containers full of candy, stomachs full of candy we shouldn’t have eaten yet (the biggest worry THEN – back in 1492 – was a possible razor blade hidden in an apple.)
Now my love for the holiday is centered in appreciating the creativity I find in costumes for kids, usually created by the parents, plus the fact that pumpkin carving is now an art form (rather than MY trying not to cut off an appendage while creating the simplest of jack-o-lanterns for our son.)
I’m already finding wonderful pumpkins by the acknowledged master of pumpkin carving, Ray Villafane, and I’ll be on the lookout for wonderful costumes to share.
I’m sad that the world is such these days that most kids don’t go trick-or-treating anymore, or are followed by alert parents in cars. Some parents get together to make parties that are carefully monitored to be safe for the kids. Sometimes haunted houses are created by the churches. All this – while nice of the volunteers – makes me a bit sad. I wish the kids could enjoy just one Halloween free of worry, where they could just experience the joy.
creativeartworksblog 