Here's To D's Halloweens Past

Growing up, there were a few of my early years that dressing up for Halloween and trick or treating went hand in hand. Then things got weird and dressing up was required to be Biblical and we'd spend time at church, being churchy. My husband and I knew we were going to do the whole thing: costumes, candy, trick or treating from door to door. Halloween is fun!

Our sons first Halloween was not exciting. He was 2 months old, and the hand me down ghost pj's were too tiny, so I just put him in his snoopy PJ's and answered the door for trick or treaters with a regular baby. People still oh'd and ah'd over him. He was pretty darn cute!

But after that first one, we dressed him up for trick or treating. When he was one, we put a red cowboy hat on him and called him a cowboy. It was also the time when his daddy always wore a cowboy hat, so people asked if he was dressed up as daddy. He was nervous for the first couple of houses, then when he realized that it was candy being dropped in his pumpkin bucket, he was ready to walk the entire neighborhood. By nights end, his bucket was dragging on the ground behind him, but he would not let us help him carry it. Smart kid. That night we, as his parents, realized that his trick or treating was treats for us too!

When he was 2, I had these cool frog overalls that he finally was big enough to wear. Add a green hooded sweatshirt, with googly eyes on top, and he was a cute frog. When he was 3, it was the worst year. He was old enough to give his opinion on dressing up, but too young to actually help with an idea. Everything I suggested was met with no...so I put him in black pants and a black turtle neck, and that night he agreed to be a pirate. Added a red scarf at his waist, and it was all good.

When he was four, he was a bat. At five he was a scorpion. And yes, I made every costume. The scorpion's legs and tail were a challenge! At six he was a werewolf. At seven, he was wild about Steve Irwin and went as the Crocodile Hunter. When he was 8, he went as a zombie. That actually turned out to be a foreshadowing of his current passion: planning for a zombie war!

Nine saw him as a mummy, ten was a very creative Swamp Thing. When he was 11 he went as his favorite TV show character, Earl, from "My Name Is Earl"....every picture from that year has his eyes closed, because that is a running joke on Earl! When he was twelve, he was a fantastically dapper 1930's Gangster, complete with a fedora and tommy gun.

And for this last Halloween, just days ago, he was a Cereal Killer. Very cute, very clever, and very him.Just before the big night, he told me, he's pretty sure this would be his last year for trick or treating. I understand. I do. His Dad and I agreed we wouldn't set an age limit on the night, since we believed each kid would on their own, know when they were too old for trick or treating. I'm just not sure I'm ready for him to be that old!!

So, here's to the cowboy, the frog, the bat. To the zombie, the mummy, the swamp thing. To Earl and the gangster and the very cute cereal killer. I loved making every costume, loved seeing D smile while trick or treating, loved having a big bowl of candy I could casually pick through for good yummy things while he was at school!