Seems appropriate tonight.I have agreed with Col. Jeff Cooper on many things + disagreed on several as well. In this case his opinion of Halloween was "to teach children to be extorshonists + vandals."Lighten up Jeff,It's a kids holiday.

Halloween is a dying "holiday". Exactly zero "Trick or Treaters" came by last night. Back when I was a kid there would be hundreds. My parents used to count them.

I remember my folks used to shake their heads at the number of truck loads of kids from the poor side of Santa Fe that would unload in our neighborhood. (I mean flatbeds carrying 30 or 40 kids.) Gave me the impression that we were doing alright. After I grew up and looked back at it; I noticed we were barely middle class. I should have loaded-up and rode with them to the better neighborhoods to get some of that high class candy.

My son and DIL gave out a five gallon bucket of candy last night.

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Originally posted by df06:
My son and DIL gave out a five gallon bucket of candy last night.

My kids came home with about that much it seems!

Halloween is alive and well in places. We wandered the neighbor of one of my youngest daughter's friends last night and had a ball. A couple fellas went all out - major decorations, music, smoke machines, giant jumping spiders, awesome costumes. Scared the living daylights out of some of our band! I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Conjured up some great Halloween spirit. It was great.

We ran out after two pretty big bowls of goodies.

No one here. That said, so many home/yards are decorated for Halloween that it seems to be overtaking Christmas.

We never have any trick or treaters, mainly because of where we live.

Even as a kid, I never really got into halloween and as an Adult(?????), Lora and I get a bigger kick out of dressing up ourselves asnd making appearances, her because she is really creative and enloys such thing, me for shock value alone.

Last night she was dressed as a Clown with Skittles Pox, I was dressed up as a Minion!

A lot of trick or treat is being done at the malls or community centers.

Dave

we spent the evening at friends in charleston , and they had about 20 kids ring the doorbell. Was an interesting evening because New Zealand historically doesnt do Halloween.

Saw more costumed kids in COSTCO today than in our neighborhood last night.

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Saw more costumed kids in COSTCO today than in our neighborhood last night.

Then I am sure you saw all the Christmas decorations as well!
Halloween is exactly what you make of it. If you don't get in the spirit yourself it will mean nothing. Halloween is alive and well where I went with my grandson. Residential neighborhood, lots of kids living there! Houses that wanted to participate left their porch lights on. Those that didn't turned all their lights off. It was lots of fun for all who participated, the kids as well as the adults. Everyone was friendly and in good spirits. The world is well!
It is a pity that the origins of Halloween ie. All Hallows Eve, have been lost along the line. The Feast of All Saints Day is November 1, and the feast of the Commemoration of the Souls of All Faithful Departed is November 2. South Americans and Central Europeans commemorate their departed by lighting votive candles on the graves of their family members who have died.
Peter.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
We never have any trick or treaters, mainly because of where we live.

Even as a kid, I never really got into halloween and as an Adult(?????), Lora and I get a bigger kick out of dressing up ourselves asnd making appearances, her because she is really creative and enloys such thing, me for shock value alone.

Last night she was dressed as a Clown with Skittles Pox, I was dressed up as a Minion!

I will be damned! I thought you had your sense of humor surgically removed or something!

Stumps, I would love to see you dressed up as a minion! Good on ya' man.

.

The Mexicans here still celebrate La Dias del Mourte,'Day of the dead'. Its not spooky,it is a respect for passed elders.Also it is the only pagan holdover that the Catholic Church was not able to eradicate.

It may have pagan origins, but, as I mentioned in my post, Central Europeans especially the Polish have this tradition as well. The catacombs in Rome have plenty of evidence that early Christians (really early Christians!) visited the tombs of their relatives and ate meals there! I agree that it is not spooky. It is amazing to drive into a cemetery and see it lit with hundreds of candles flickering in the night.
peter

During part of my well-spent youth, I worked for a while in the Mexican state of Coahuila. I was there during a Day of the Dead celebration. Very interesting holiday for one not accustomed to such a celebration. We had a wonderful time celebrating with our hosts.

When my nearest neighbor had kids we get now they are grown up them and we get no one.

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Stumps, I would love to see you dressed up as a minion! Good on ya' man.

Check with Geedubya, I think he saw the picture Lora took of me at the store where she works.

It’s a good neighborhood thing.

I get to meet most of neighbors. I put my German Shepherd in my truck bed and let him bark his lungs out.



I don’t get the holiday but have no kids and I hate dressing up so the adult Halloween is alien to me. I know a lot of friends who are really into it.

I hate the holiday season - normally like to go hunt and fish over them. This year I will be stuck at the holidays hanging out with mom as she recovers from her bypass.

Mike

Opinions will vary but I have never felt guilty of giving joy to a child.

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Opinions will vary but I have never felt guilty of giving joy to a child.

Lord knows there is damn little joy when a person becomes an adult!

We live in a neighborhood that has a pretty good mix of young people with kids, middle-age folks, and retirees like myself.

We've lived here 4 1/2 years, and the Halloween attendance has varied from year to year.

I always make up little bags of treats--candy, plastic spider rings, gum, and so forth. I know how many I've made up and thus can tell how many kids we get.

This year we gave out 40 bags by 8:00 pm. I was out so I shut down the lights and called it a night.

Last year we gave out 34 bags (I keep notes--is that weird?).

One observation this year was that more of the "kids" were older--maybe middle or even high school. The toddlers and grade school kids were maybe only half the trick-or-treaters.

The older kids were respectful and all were in costume. I had to remind a few to say the magic words, not just hold out a bag. I warned them that failure to "play the game" would result in my giving out toothbrushes next year.

When we lived in Atlanta the wife and I used to throw adult Halloween costume parties, had "best costume" and other contests ("Guess the Pumpkins" was a favorite), put out a big spread and provided plenty of "spirits." We threw some super parties; here in Florida I don't think we'd get a very big turnout, so we stick to Christmas/holiday events.

Yep Nitro,I remember those parties.And the next morning when all the pilots were still snockered;a couple of Ridalin in the mouth + we were ready to go.

Next year I plan to have a table in the driveway with candy for the kids and Wassail for the adults. Maybe 2 batches; one with a bottle of Marsala and one with a good Bourbon.

What a kind Samaritan!