Happy Halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday. It can be celebrated for the entire month of October. Thirty-one days sure beats the twelve days of Christmas. Plus, folks become extremely clever when considering a costume.

The first costume I got my husband into was King Neptune. I was a mermaid. The event was a silent auction with the theme of Under The Sea. My sweet husband proclaimed that he had been mislead because he and I were the only ones dressed up. Actually, I had never said it was a costume ball type event. We were the living decorations for the evening.

Halloween was just a few days later. I threw a great party and invited our close friends. My husband is such a good sport about dressing-up. That year, he put on tights and a green puffy shirt. He was my Robin Hood to my Maid Marion. I have to admit we looked fantastic. Anthony and Cleopatra were there. A Bad-Ass Biker came with his wife, Charlotte's Web. By pure coincidence, two Priests showed up with their trampy Catholic School Girls. The White Trash Couple came as did a Giant Pink Fairy. There was a Pirate and a Dominatrix. Naughty Nurse and Dirty Old Man were there too. Everyone had a wonderful time.


The next year, we were living in Kansas. I planned a Grand Halloween Party. Because so many people were invited and we had such tiny quarters, I decided to go with an open house format. The food had improved from the prior year. I got more into the holiday. I served jello shot brain, fingers, witch's cheese-dip cauldron, snake sandwich and Frankenstein cups. It looked wonderfully yummy. Kirby, still willing to wear a costume, donned a Court Jester outfit complete with jingle bells on the floppy hat. I was a sexy story-book witch.

Throughout the evening, several reverse couples came. The husband came as the woman and the wife came as the man. I can only imagine the conversation at the store when a rather large, beefy man asked for a pair of size 12 pumps. Dilbert arrived with his witch wife. A couple arrived wearing togas. We had hippies, construction workers, Minnie Mouse, and a fantastic Old Folks couple. The Wicked Witch showed up with her husband, Dorothy. Everyone had such a wonderful time that once they arrived, they didn't leave. The open house theme turned into a jam-packed party.

The Halloween after that was spent in Heidelberg,Germany. It wasn't just any old Halloween filled with passing out candy to Trick-or-Treaters. We spent that year's holiday at Frankenstein's Castle in Darmstadt. Mary Shelley had visited the castle ruins and was so moved by the experience that she created the story, Frankenstein.

Today, the castle is nearly gone. There is a couryard, a small bridge, some walls, a staircase and a tower remaining. The folks who run the castle have done a tremendous job at keeping Frankenstein alive. One can also enjoy murder mystery dinner theater there as well as a wedding reception.

The good folks at the castle celebrate Halloween with a two-week long haunted house. It is nothing like any haunted house I have ever attended. When walking up the dark roadway approaching the castle entrance, visitors notice the ambulance parked at he gate plus several medical personnel walking about. This is a precautionary measure as some people become so frightened they might have a heart-attack.

Visitors enter the castle grounds in mass. No lines here. Crossing the arched bridge, it become obvious the idea behind this haunted house is a free-roaming tour of the grounds. And monsters galore. Every possible scary monster, demon, beast and nightmare are present and lurking about. They approach visitors and follow visitors and even corner visitors. Any indication of fear is an invitation to the creatures. They torment the frightened and some are compelled to gently touch the weary. And a brief mention of the costumes. SPECTACULAR! They aren't your five and dime store cheap costumes. They are the genuine article up to the best Hollywood modern day standard of theatrical make-up. The best I've ever seen. It's readily apparent the money earned from ticket sales is put back into the make-up and costumes.

The following year, we had moved, again and now were in Schweinfurt, Germany. I decided to throw my traditional Halloween party. Several decorations had been added to my ever growing Halloween box and I now had three very large and well-stuffed containers of Halloween costumes/decorations to choose from. I even expanded my Halloween food items. I served the witch's cheese-dip cauldron, vertebrae, eyeballs, spider cake, graveyard brownies, and witch's brew.

I went over the top with my costume. I was Cruella DeVil. Naturally, my husband was my dalmation. Our guests arrived. We had the Black Widow and her corpse husband. Black and white stripped inmate with his Police Officer wife. Orange County jumpsuit inmate and his abused wife. King Tut and Nefertiti. Doctor Evil and his trampy sidekicks. A clown, an empty roll of toilet paper, a ghost, Mother Nature, Big Breasted Naughty Nurse Nancy, two Army helicopter pilots. A Cowboy and his Indian wife. A very large muscular black man came as an Army wife, complete with short black dress, stockings, heels, cropped curly blonde wig and an Army wife handbook. I don't think I ever laughed quite as hard as I did when he arrived. We also had a witch, a couple of pumpkins and the killer from Scream. Another Halloween and another great party where everyone had a terrific time.

This year, the year of the deployment, was a bit different. Without my husband and all the husbands of my friends, a party just didn't appeal to me. Really, who wants to come to a Halloween party without their significant other? So, most of my Halloween items stayed in the boxes. I did bring a few things out and shared my costumes with some other folks who needed them to dress up at the elementary school.

This year I made a new friend. She's from Ukraine and has never celebrated Halloween. She had never carved a pumpkin and had never experienced Trick-or-Treat. It is difficult explaining Trick-or-Treat to someone who has no knowledge of the event.

"What if you don't have candy?" she asked.

"You have candy. You must have candy."

"What if you run out?"

"You don't run out. Some folks do, but that's frowned upon. You do what you can to make sure you don't run out."

"What do they dress up as?"

"Anything they want."

"Why?"

"Uhhh, because."

I finally gave up and told her she would have to carve pumpkins at my house and spend Halloween with me and experience Trick-or-Treat first hand. See, in our military community, every child comes to my neighborhood to Trick-or-Treat. Never in my whole life have I seen so many Trick-or-Treaters. Literally hundreds. They line up five to ten people deep at the door waiting for their turn. I have a large cauldron that I use for the Halloween candy. Last year I went through two cauldrons full of candy. I started to panic. Luckily, I had some Halloween pencils on hand and had just enough to get me through the alloted 2-hour Trick-or-Treat time. This year, I was better prepared. I had tons of candy, plus Halloween pencils, plus Halloween theme toys. And believe me, I needed every bit of it.

My friend, Svita, carved her first pumpkin a week before Trick-or-Treat. I know she was pleased because when she had finished, my daughter and I were still working on ours, she asked if we needed any help. I gave her another pumpkin and she nearly squealed with delight. She got creative too. She turned a scar on the pumpkin into an eye patch. Very clever.

When it came time for the Trick-or-Treaters, Svita came to my house with no idea of what to expect. She had dressed in nice clothes wanting to present herself the best she could. Well, we ended up sitting outside because the stream of children is non-stop. As it was cold, I gave her a Mexican blanket to wrap up in. Then, I had a brilliant idea. I got her a sombrero and she instantly turned into a stereotypical Mexican on siesta.

During the furious endeavor to put candy in the ever open bags of Trick-or-Treaters, Svita giggled to herself. I also delighted in the wonderful costumes and festive mood. By the time it finally ended, three cauldrons of goodies later, Svita was tickled with this Halloween tradition. I think I have converted another.

Happy Halloween!!!!