A HALLOWEEN TRADITION

I think Halloween is one of my favorite holidays- We all can remember how much fun it was to dress up in anything that we wanted to be.  My mother used to make my halloween costumes. She was quite a seemstress, and every year she would come up with some new idea – We were spanish dancers one year, harem girls the next  and roaring twenties dancers.  . Since I am a twin she had to sew for two- no small feat for a working mom and all of her other duties, and these were real costumes with amazing detail. She would have cringed at some of the costumes I put together for my son David.    Unfortunately , I did not inherit my mother’s sewing genes.However, with some ingeniuty,we seemed to muddle through with a little creativity, the salvation army, the dollar store, hand me downs and the party store.

Dressing up was fun,   trick or treating , was another matter entirely.  It wasn’t until 5 yrs old that David would venture outside to go trick or treating.  From a very young age he was scared of any costumed characters and the prospect of going out to see ghosts and goblins was not something that thrilled him.  He did, however, love to open the door and give out the candy- as long as I looked to make sure their were no scary faces approaching the house.   It wasn’t long before he realized that if he were to venture out he would be able to get CANDY- and lots of it.  My son loves food, and when he finally discovered candy, there would be no stopping him.

I, being the good mother,  was very concerned about al lof the candy that he might be consuming.  I could see the dollar signs already at the dentist’s door- BUT WHAT CAN A MOTHER DO- That was when my friend told me what she did on Halloween, and  A HALLOWEEN TRADITION was born.   It worked so well that first year, we kept it going until he was 10 years old.

So that first Halloween eve before he went out trick or treating we told him that he would be collecting candy for the Halloween witch.  He would be able to keep 5 pieces for himself for every year that he was born, and the rest we will put out after midnight for the Halloweeen witch to give to her children.  ”On halloween eve , when you are asleep, she will come looking for candy to feed her children.When she finds it at our house  she will leave a  special gift for you and a special card from her children thanking  you for all the sweetness you brought them.”  He was very excited that evening, and couldn’t wait until the next morning.  He made sure we gave the Halloween witch as much candy as possible, and he even decided to give up one of his pieces to make sure all of her children got enough.   That next morning we opened up the door and sure enough there was a card and a wrapped boxed .  We opened the card up first.  It read: “Thank you David for all the candy you have so generously given to my family.  I hope you enjoy your gift.  Happy Halloween!” He had received a little stuffed bear with a witch’s hat on it. He was thrilled, and talked about it all to all of his friends, some of them were neighbors. They all went to their moms   wondering why the Halloween witch didn’t come to their house. And so, I began to tell the story to other Moms.. The nice thing also  about this story, is you can change it to any character you want.  You might like the idea of the great pumpkin instead.  It doesn’t matter, as you long as you make it a tradition every year Halloween will become a much healthier holiday .  Children live in an imaginative and magical world and  just like they will believe in Santa Claus, and fairies, it is  another opportunity to allow them to stay in that magical world a little bit longer. For David, it worked up until the time that he let go of  Santa Claus, and faires, which was about 11 years old.   We cherished every moment.

Happy Halloween!

Miss Andrea