beXnlog

Scary Blackberry

Happy Halloween!!

My love of candy + my love of free candy = Halloween is the best holiday EVER! I loved Halloween more than xmas, people! Granted, xmas wasn't that big of a deal in my house growing up; presents were cool but the concept of Santa negated that for me. Anyways, check out that rare Ghoul-Aid Kool-Aid packet of Scary Blackberry that i got as a gift back in college. It's colored pitch black and i'd love to drink it, but unless i got another packet this one must stay unopened for prosperity's sake.

As a kid, I was the same witch year after year for Halloween. This was back when you either dressed up as something scary or something Halloween-related, like a fat pumpkin or a black cat. Most kids in my neighborhood "made" their costumes somehow, either by piecing it together from various clothes or household items, or by using makeup to make yourself look like a Dracula with blood running down your chin. The kids who made no effort or who really needed to be some superhero would get their parents to buy those vinyl "outfits" where the back of you was blankly white, and you could barely see out of that plastic mask that was held on by an elastic band. I think i was Wonder Woman with this type of costume back in 1980 during the kindergarten Halloween "parade," but that was the only time. (Mainly i was obsessed with Wonder Woman, and yes, i did also have the Underoos - also with said blankly white back!)

Unlike our neighbor Mikey who was only allowed to trick or treat on our street, my siblings and i went all over our suburban development in a mad rush to collect as much free candy as possible. Unlike in New York, we also had to wait until it started to get dark to trick or treat; it just wasn't appropriate to start ringing doorbells before or during dinnertime. It also wasn't appropriate to keep ringing doorbells around, say 9pm. Given all this, we had approximately 3 hours to run from house to house, armed with a large bag or my favorite: a big white pillowcase that i slung over my shoulder when it got really heavy. (However adorable, i ditched the old skool orange plastic pumpkin candy pail.) During my BEST year, the year in which my sister was begging to go home, the year in which people stopped answering their doorbells, the year in which we almost made it through our entire neighborhood development, i netted a full 9 pounds of candy!

Afterwards, another favorite activity of mine was arranging my candy into piles on the carpet. That way, one could get a visual picture of what kind of candy you had, what you had too much of, not enough of and what you were willing to trade or give up. I hated black licorice of any sort and wasn't so into gumdrops, Dubble Bubble pink rubbery gum or chocolate-covered marshmallows; these things i eagerly traded way. Another thing i loved about Halloween was the VARIETY: grand amounts of old skool candy, new candy, chocolates, Willy Wonka favorites, "Fun Size" bars, full size bars and the random box of raisins or handful of pennies. My most favorite loot items were: candy corn, Nerds, Baby Ruth, Now and Laters, Snickers, Kit Kat, Bit O Honey, Butterfinger, Laffy Taffy and Twix. Every year my mom would convince us she'd "take care" of our candy for us, thereby hiding our loot somewhere in the house in an effort to save our teeth, but after we got a little older we just wouldn't let her. I recall eating candy late into the night, sometimes even waking up in the middle of sleeping in order to eat more! Usually by the time i ate through half of my loot, i'd attempt some sort of "rationing" to make it last longer, usually to no avail. At the point when my loot was near gone or gone, i'd convince my sister to share some of hers - it's called oldest sibling privilege.

Now that i'm much too old to go trick or treating without a child in tow, i can only reminisce. Here in our small Queens apartment building we never get any trick or treaters, and generally from what be's told me about trick or treating in New York, it's very different than what was going on in suburban DC. Plus, trick or treating seems overall different 20 years later, irregardless of location. Well, just in case we hear our buzzer ring, we're armed with regular Kit Kats and some special Halloween Kit Kats that are dark chocolate inside with an orange white-chocolate coating!

PS: My cell phone got stolen today so email me or call the house.

posted by beXn @ 6:11 PM