Dads Holiday Past You know when the holidays are coming up. The fliers start showing up in the mail, the kids are talking about what they want to get this year, parents are outside putting up the decorations and figuring out their budgets on how much can they spend this year.
No, I am not talking about Christmas. I'm talking about the other biggest holiday of the year – Halloween.
I remember when I was little and spending hours with my dad, hanging up all kinds of decorations. The more the better. Hanging those streams of Halloween lights, sending out Halloween photocards to family and friends with a picture of me and my brother in our favorite costumes that we bought at the Halloween Store that only opens during this time of year. My brother in his $80.00 spider man costumes, and me in my $150.00 Lord of the Rings Gollum costumes (he was big that year) and of course all the accessories. Boy, were we the cutest duo or what?
I remember every year going to the County Pumpkinfest, where there were thousands of hand-carved, illuminated jack-o’-lanterns which covered the grounds of the entire farm. We took a hay ride to get out there, passing apple orchards, pumpkin fields and seeing all the bright orange lights, It was really pretty cool.
Then racing home that night with our pumpkins that we just bought for 20-30 bucks and dad looking up on the internet of an image of Spiderman for my brother to engrave onto his pumpkin, and me probably picking out Freddy Kruger, or something in that vein. Dad usually worked so hard so he can make these pumpkins look award worthy.
They never did come out like the ones at the county pumpkinfest, but it sure was fun carving them up.
I love Halloween. But not everyone agrees with me on the spirit of this holiday.
Which, by the way, would be my dad. Every year, he complains about the same ol same ol Halloween issues. This year was no different.
I went to my parents house for dinner the other night and when we all sat down at the table, I had to open my big fat mouth and asked dad a question.
“Dad, when are you putting up the Halloween decorations? I noticed everyone has their up already.”
My mother just looked at me with the look she usually gives me to tell me to shut up. Mothers have these different looks and you know exactly which each look means. But it was too late, dad started.
“You know Jay, when I was kid, Halloween wasn't always like this, we went down to the supermarket down the street, picked out a warped looking pumpkin and then carved it the weekend before Halloween, yea it was all rotted by Halloween, but we didn't care. Everyone had the same pumpkin, two diamond shaped eyes, one diamond shaped nose and a big mouth with crooked teeth. Which, by the way, we carved it ourselves, no help from anyone. No, they didn't look like Martha Stewarts but we didn't care, that's all we knew. No tracing, engraving, nothing, we did the whole thing from memory.
Plus, Hanging up spooky Halloween decorations in the trees outside our house would have never even occurred to us. Yea, we displayed our pumpkins on the front porch full of pride, but that was it. Except some years when we were more ambitious, we would stuff our dads clothes with newspaper to make a dummy and sat him up in a chair holding one of the pumpkins, but other then that, we were good to go.
Costumes, lets talk about that. We had no 'Spiderman' or some 'lord of the ring' guy, we had these stupid plastic masks that had an electric band that hurt our faces and we could hardly see out of them, not even breath. But we would put them on, and we were done. That was it.
When we went trick-or-treating, we were lucky if we got two or three candy bars the whole night. I remember my mom and us putting three pieces of candy corn in a little paper bag with a monster on it.
“Don't forget, 3 corns per bag kids” she would continue to remind us as we bagged them, and I don't remember anyone of us complaining.
When we left the house for the night, we would be out till really late, we were out trying to score as much candy as possible. We knew the good houses, the ones that gave the candy bars and we would hit those houses like two or three times, and we just exchanged parts of our costumes with each other so they wouldn't recognize us.
It was that one day a year that we could get ourselves into a little mischief and take some eggs from the fridge and have egg fights. We knew our mom would just say “well, it's Halloween”.
Yea, it was fun egging people, but even more so, getting egged. We wore our yolk as a badge of honor.”
Dad continued on with his dismay about what Halloween turned into and I just eventually tuned him out.
“Mom, can you pass the potatoes?” Is pretty much all I said when he started in again.
“Sure dear” mom said.
Then dad took a breath and then started up again.
“Since when did Halloween get blown into this major holiday like Christmas? Now, if the retailers can exploit this simple holiday, which by the way, I don't even think is a real holiday, what other holidays are they going to do this to?
The Kennedy's up the road are now buying their kids presents for the Summer Solstice? Mike said to me last month “how are you decorating your house for Arbor day?” When is enough enough?” Dads voice raised.
Then my mother chimes in, “Oh, I almost forgot, we got an invitation to attend Jane's Oscar night party. I'll have to tack the invite on the fridge so I remember it, it's next year. I love how she puts out a red carpet on her front lawn. She is so creative. And then that strobe light to make you feel like paparazzi are taking pictures of you. That Jane is so clever.”
Dad wasn't going to let this one go.
“yea, Jane, she is one of the problems, making these stupid events into a major holiday and then the retailers decide that they can make money from it and actually create invites specifically for the 'Oscars parties' that these people put on. What is wrong with these people buying this crap”
“Calm down Bill, its only Halloween, you always get stressed out around this time of year, just try to relax and enjoy the holidays, maybe you have that seasonal effective disorder or something” Mom says.
Dad had to get one last word in, “well, its ridiculous, I just don't understand it. Money, just thrown down the drain. Stupid people falling for it, like Jane”.
“I know Bill, it really has gone a little over the top. Oh, Since we are on subject of holidays, how did Donna like the neck massage that we got her for Ground Hog day?” My mom asked
“oh yea, she loved it, she always wanted one.” Dad said while cutting his steak.
“Oh, that's great.” She said smiling.
“Mom, can you pass the butter?” I asked.
No, I am not talking about Christmas. I'm talking about the other biggest holiday of the year – Halloween.
I remember when I was little and spending hours with my dad, hanging up all kinds of decorations. The more the better. Hanging those streams of Halloween lights, sending out Halloween photocards to family and friends with a picture of me and my brother in our favorite costumes that we bought at the Halloween Store that only opens during this time of year. My brother in his $80.00 spider man costumes, and me in my $150.00 Lord of the Rings Gollum costumes (he was big that year) and of course all the accessories. Boy, were we the cutest duo or what?
I remember every year going to the County Pumpkinfest, where there were thousands of hand-carved, illuminated jack-o’-lanterns which covered the grounds of the entire farm. We took a hay ride to get out there, passing apple orchards, pumpkin fields and seeing all the bright orange lights, It was really pretty cool.
Then racing home that night with our pumpkins that we just bought for 20-30 bucks and dad looking up on the internet of an image of Spiderman for my brother to engrave onto his pumpkin, and me probably picking out Freddy Kruger, or something in that vein. Dad usually worked so hard so he can make these pumpkins look award worthy.
They never did come out like the ones at the county pumpkinfest, but it sure was fun carving them up.
I love Halloween. But not everyone agrees with me on the spirit of this holiday.
Which, by the way, would be my dad. Every year, he complains about the same ol same ol Halloween issues. This year was no different.
I went to my parents house for dinner the other night and when we all sat down at the table, I had to open my big fat mouth and asked dad a question.
“Dad, when are you putting up the Halloween decorations? I noticed everyone has their up already.”
My mother just looked at me with the look she usually gives me to tell me to shut up. Mothers have these different looks and you know exactly which each look means. But it was too late, dad started.
“You know Jay, when I was kid, Halloween wasn't always like this, we went down to the supermarket down the street, picked out a warped looking pumpkin and then carved it the weekend before Halloween, yea it was all rotted by Halloween, but we didn't care. Everyone had the same pumpkin, two diamond shaped eyes, one diamond shaped nose and a big mouth with crooked teeth. Which, by the way, we carved it ourselves, no help from anyone. No, they didn't look like Martha Stewarts but we didn't care, that's all we knew. No tracing, engraving, nothing, we did the whole thing from memory.
Plus, Hanging up spooky Halloween decorations in the trees outside our house would have never even occurred to us. Yea, we displayed our pumpkins on the front porch full of pride, but that was it. Except some years when we were more ambitious, we would stuff our dads clothes with newspaper to make a dummy and sat him up in a chair holding one of the pumpkins, but other then that, we were good to go.
Costumes, lets talk about that. We had no 'Spiderman' or some 'lord of the ring' guy, we had these stupid plastic masks that had an electric band that hurt our faces and we could hardly see out of them, not even breath. But we would put them on, and we were done. That was it.
When we went trick-or-treating, we were lucky if we got two or three candy bars the whole night. I remember my mom and us putting three pieces of candy corn in a little paper bag with a monster on it.
“Don't forget, 3 corns per bag kids” she would continue to remind us as we bagged them, and I don't remember anyone of us complaining.
When we left the house for the night, we would be out till really late, we were out trying to score as much candy as possible. We knew the good houses, the ones that gave the candy bars and we would hit those houses like two or three times, and we just exchanged parts of our costumes with each other so they wouldn't recognize us.
It was that one day a year that we could get ourselves into a little mischief and take some eggs from the fridge and have egg fights. We knew our mom would just say “well, it's Halloween”.
Yea, it was fun egging people, but even more so, getting egged. We wore our yolk as a badge of honor.”
Dad continued on with his dismay about what Halloween turned into and I just eventually tuned him out.
“Mom, can you pass the potatoes?” Is pretty much all I said when he started in again.
“Sure dear” mom said.
Then dad took a breath and then started up again.
“Since when did Halloween get blown into this major holiday like Christmas? Now, if the retailers can exploit this simple holiday, which by the way, I don't even think is a real holiday, what other holidays are they going to do this to?
The Kennedy's up the road are now buying their kids presents for the Summer Solstice? Mike said to me last month “how are you decorating your house for Arbor day?” When is enough enough?” Dads voice raised.
Then my mother chimes in, “Oh, I almost forgot, we got an invitation to attend Jane's Oscar night party. I'll have to tack the invite on the fridge so I remember it, it's next year. I love how she puts out a red carpet on her front lawn. She is so creative. And then that strobe light to make you feel like paparazzi are taking pictures of you. That Jane is so clever.”
Dad wasn't going to let this one go.
“yea, Jane, she is one of the problems, making these stupid events into a major holiday and then the retailers decide that they can make money from it and actually create invites specifically for the 'Oscars parties' that these people put on. What is wrong with these people buying this crap”
“Calm down Bill, its only Halloween, you always get stressed out around this time of year, just try to relax and enjoy the holidays, maybe you have that seasonal effective disorder or something” Mom says.
Dad had to get one last word in, “well, its ridiculous, I just don't understand it. Money, just thrown down the drain. Stupid people falling for it, like Jane”.
“I know Bill, it really has gone a little over the top. Oh, Since we are on subject of holidays, how did Donna like the neck massage that we got her for Ground Hog day?” My mom asked
“oh yea, she loved it, she always wanted one.” Dad said while cutting his steak.
“Oh, that's great.” She said smiling.
“Mom, can you pass the butter?” I asked.