In our old house, we would buy one bag of candy in the unlikely chance we had trick-or-treaters. I say “unlikely” because our house sat on the top of a steep hill with a winding driveway in a neighborhood that contained one street, twelve houses, and no young children. But our hill was steep enough that I always wanted to have some candy around. Any trick-or-treater stubborn enough to climb that hill earned every bit of candy we could give them. But no-one ever came.
This year is a new adventure. We are in the middle of a large subdivision with a flat lawn and lots of kids around us, so we have bought two large bags of candy hoping we will give it all away on October 31. I’ve even put out Halloween decorations this year, both a lit plastic pumpkin display outside and all kinds of knick-knacks scattered around the house.
This is one of my favorites:
I painted it myself from a pattern in a craft magazine. It was a lot of fun.
Thinking about the upcoming Halloween has made me nostalgic for past Halloweens, so I thought I’d share some of the pictures and memories of them with you.
This is a picture of me and my middle sister back in the 1970s right before going trick-or-treating in witch costumes my mother made.
Here is a picture of my daughter when she was three, having her first Halloween with us:
The woman in the picture was my mom-in-law. Our daughter is Mark's and my only child, and both grandmothers doted on her—she was the first grandchild on my side of the family, and the first granddaughter on Mark’s side. She came to live with us in November 2004—I’ll tell that story sometime—and for the first six months she stayed with us, the child had a new dress to wear to church every Sunday. That is not an exaggeration; if anything, I have underestimated the time involved!
One year, I made Kayla’s costume. Those of you who sewed in years gone by probably recognize the Simplicity pattern involved—it could be a bunny, a cat, a lion and several other creatures.
Another year, when Kayla had her heart set on being the Little Mermaid, Mom bought the costume, lock, stock and barrel. Kayla was feeling a little sassy that year, I think, and she was proud of the pumpkin she decorated. For those of you shocked because I didn’t let her carve the pumpkin out, I have two things to say. First, we live in Alabama. Carved pumpkins have a chance of lasting maybe two days in good shape if the weather is cool. Second, you obviously never had to clean up after a pumpkin carving expedition. The markers were cheaper, safer, and she had just as much fun!
But clever moms know to keep their camera ready at all times, and I also caught this picture when she didn’t know it and was just clowning around.
The very next year, when Kayla was 10, Mom made her Halloween costume for her, as Rapunzel. It was gorgeous.
Court protocol, however, was thrown to the four winds when we arrived at our church’s carnival that evening, and Kayla/Rapunzel had a chance to climb a wall on one of those bouncy things that children love.
The costume survived unscathed and is one Halloween costume that was passed around to various children in the extended family as they reached the appropriate age.
So what do these pictures have to do with writing? Nothing. And everything. Everything that we write originates with our thoughts, emotions and experiences. Storing these kinds of images in our memory banks can start our wheels turning when we cast about for story ideas or want to add depth and color to the descriptions of our characters and their lives.
So here’s a challenge: What kind of plot could you create using the following Halloween costume picture?
For those of you who are wondering, this is Mark, the year he held a costume contest at the company he worked for. As the emcee for the event, he felt it was his duty to come up with a suitable costume.
