Missy Times Flashback: "Pumpkins, Candy and Costumes, Oh My!"

Taken from the October 31st, 2010 issue of The Missy Times.

While Trick-or-Treating I took the time to notice these three staples of Halloween around town.

Pumpkins Although most pumpkins are usually carved in the same general fashion with two eyes, a nose and a scraggly smile, a few that I saw really caught my attention.

• Most people carve the face or scene on their pumpkin and therefore that carving is the main attraction. Not many people use the front of their pumpkin as a window into the interior where they staged the real show. Our neighbor did just that, though, by carving the front of her pumpkin into jail bars and placing a mini pumpkin inside, where he unfortunately was suffering the consequences of whatever crime it is that pumpkins can commit.
• As we walked up the stairs of one house on Bank Street, we were greeted by a few surprisingly amazing pumpkins. One had quite a beautiful ornately carved design that must have been carved by an expert with the knife, and another had a whole face --A WHOLE FACE!-- complete with hair, eyes and neck. It was very impressive.

Candy What can I say about candy? Most was chocolate but I still got a good basketful of edible and delicious candy. Here are some candy-giving styles I observed:

1. The "take-it-yourself" method: a basket full of candy is quite appealing, especially when there is a large selection. It's nice to hear a friendly adult say "Go ahead, take a piece", or even better, "take a handful" and let you pick your own confection of choice. Some people even just had a basket on their doorstep free to choose from!
2. The "Here you go" method: this method is for parents who want to make sure greedy children do not take more than one piece. Being handed a piece of candy is a minus for Trick-or-Treaters, however, who will often not get the candy they want or that they are not allergic to.
3. The "Sit on the porch" method: It is an unwritten rule that if the porch light is on there's candy in the house. Most of the time, along with the light the bestower of the candy is also situated on the porch, waiting for kids to walk up the steps to receive their prize.
4. The "sit near the sidewalk" method: this method is more convenient than the previous one if you are trying to keep up with a fast moving group of people, though it is less popular.
5. The "wait for them to knock on the door" method: this is the most ominous of the candy-giving styles. Are they giving out candy or are they not? Is their light on to light the sidewalk or as a signal to come to the door? This used to be the only way people gave out candy; not many people would wait outside. It's sort of cool to have someone answer the door and be able to look inside the different houses.

Costumes   Most of the costumes this year were all store bought and very trite. In my own experience, I noticed while at various stores that they were mostly for either grown-ups or toddlers and that there were not many for ages in between. The most creative costumes I saw were on a group of three people: one was Abraham Lincoln, one was a confederate soldier, and one was a union soldier. I myself dressed up as a detective using dark green pants, a trench coat over a turtle neck and a detective hat (two baseball hats in opposite directions covered in plaid fabric).

I hope my observations have made things more interesting and shed a positive light on one of my least favorite holidays.

Lost Issues Recovered

"Winter Pastime Deemed Local Crime"
                         
"Undeemed But Unneeded!"

These are the headlines of the two issues of The Missy Times that were declared lost in the most recent edition of the newsletter. I am happy to announce that I found both a few days ago in one of my old binders in the attic.

Thank you to everyone who searched their Missy Times collections for me! If you had found these issues and were planning to send one or both to me, please keep them!

An official announcement will appear in the next Missy Times.