NaBloPoMo 2014 - Day Two
On a big comfy chair in the living room
The hockey game playing on the TV
I've never been trick-or-treating for Halloween.
When my parents were first married, my mom reportedly wanted to hand out candy and such, but my dad was all "What for? It's a stupid holiday. We don't do Halloween in England." or some such nonsense, so they didn't do anything. By the time I and my three oldest brothers arrived, we still weren't doing anything more than watching movies in my parents' (rear-facing) bedroom with all the house lights off.
By the time I was 9-10 or so, our church had started doing something they called the Harvest Party. It was basically a whole bunch of carnival games and such all over the church that you'd get candy for playing. There were loads of things like bouncy castles, your standard carnival games ("fish" in the tank and receive candy; toss beanbags through holes on a plywood board; etc), and even fireworks at the end of the night.
When I was 14-15, the church stopped holding the party, as it was a lot of work to put together and other issues. It also didn't help that one of the annual youth weekend retreats always fell right near it, thus depriving the church of volunteers to man game stations. I've never quite gotten over that; I'd waited for ages to be able to help staff that, and by the time I was old enough, it was cancelled.
More time passed, and the church didn't really do anything for the next three years. When I was 18, we got a new pastor who wanted to do some form of outreach for Halloween. Fair enough... his thing was having a table with hot chocolate/candy outside the church, and giving those away as well as tracts and such to those who were interested. It was a good idea and all, but it just wasn't the same. That year, my mom decided for the first time, Brothers #4 and #5 (then 9 and 6, respectively) would go actual trick-or-treating. Sure, they'd gone mall-ToT-ing with some friends before, but it's not quite the same thing.
That year started a new precedent; they've gone ToT-ing every year since then. It's migrated from the townhouses beside the church to the neighbourhood surrounding where my parents live, and I (and Tim) have accompanied my mom as she takes my brothers out (usually in costume, ourselves, because...why not?).
This year was a little different. My mom decided that this year we'd give out candy (shocker!), and my 18 and 13YO brothers decided to do that, the 13YO deciding that this year, he's too old to ToT. This left just the 10YO to go out with my mom, Tim, and I.
Only trouble is, this year, funds have been tight, so neither Tim nor I had costumes. My mom wasn't having any of that, though, and decided to try and whip some stuff up for us last-minute with stuff around the house.
She'd gotten Tim into an old-man mask and suspenders, complete with pitchfork to ward kids "OFFA [HIS] LAWN!", but I still had nothing. My mother offered me two options: wear some pink polka-dotted dress of hers (which I think she only offered just to see me wear something so out of character for me), or borrow a big white nightshirt/gown thing, carry a teddy bear, and be a little kid.
Problem: right now, I have short hair. Like, way too short to pose as a little girl.
Because what little girl has hair like this?
Therefore, I was skeptical. But Mom was insistent, so finally I caved, feeling a bit ridiculous.
But luck was in my favour: my afore-mentioned 18YO brother has a mask he made out of a cardboard box (pretty sturdy and all) ages ago for a project of his, which matched the nightshirt, being painted white. I put it on for a laugh and showed it to my mom, who thought that it was funny/creepy, and that it worked. So I asked him if I could use it, and he agreed.
Therefore, this was born:
Just the very thing to strike terror into peoples' hearts. Or something.
I then decided that with this mask, I could get away with MURDER passing as a kid to gain candy. Tim said I had no shame. I said that it wasn't hurting anyone to receive candy/chips from people, and refused to be deterred.
Therefore, I, Josee Smith, 22 years old, legal adult, diploma-holding graduate from university, married woman, commissioned officer in Her Majesty's Royal Canadian Navy...went trick-or-treating for the first time in my life.
And what a haul I got!
Hiding behind a strange-looking mask will get you far in life, kids. Or at least get you free sugary things once a year.
Would I do it again? Probably not - it's a lot more work than I originally thought it was. But was it worth it?
ABSOLUTELY. :D
Fun fact: The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable"!
Tags: life, nablopomo 2014
swordznsorcery
Congratulations! And I don't see that there's any shame in it. People have bought the candy to give away after all! Just don't eat it all at once. :p
For the record though, I know plenty of little girls with hair like that!
Oh, I don't plan to - I'm making this last for a while. I gave some away to my brother, though, as it was his mask that helped me get all the candy. :D
And that's different - I don't recall seeing very many little girls with that kind of haircut. Usually it's quite long. :O