Family Friday Tales

Halloween is coming up.  It is probably my least favorite "holiday" of the year. However, it does bring up two stories, one from each of us.

We were sitting in the dining room putting together Halloween treat bags.  Dear One had decided that this year we would put candy in ziplock sandwich bags so there would not be so much pawing through the bowls...possibly being more health-conscious.  We have not heard anything from the mayor about canceling Halloween so we are going on the assumption it is "on".  We had at least 150 kids last year.  It was kind of fun seeing them all and watching their various behaviors.  The tiny ones were so cute!

Anyway, the topic of Three Musketeers came up.  Dear One loves those.  He had just opened the last big bag of candy and noticed the size of the candy in that bag.  They were TINY!  Like, thumbnail size!  He said that Three Musketeers in his day were planks!  And they only cost five cents.  I wondered where he got the five cents for the candy so I asked him.  He said he and his friends went to the dump and dug out soda bottles.  Of course, the redemption of the soda bottles in that day was only $.025 per bottle so they had to get at least three bottles to come up with the money for each Three Musketeers they wanted to eat.  That may not be much of a story but I thought it was pretty interesting.  In my family that would not have been even remotely an option...

This is the preparation for trick or treaters.  We are really hoping they do come.  The thought of all this candy left over is too grim for words. I only have so much self control.

Now for a story from my side of the family.  We lived on a dairy farm at the back of beyond.  The only people who ever came to our home, mostly, were the milk tester, the milk truck driver to pick up a ton of milk, and the mailman.  Oh, and the neighbors who lived even further out in the sticks up past us, but they rarely ever stopped.  They just drove on up the hill.

Well, my father was not a big Halloween fan. I am not sure if we ever went trick or treating.  I do think one year we went to the firehouse where there was a party that included doughnuts on a string and bobbing for apples, but that may have been the 4-H club who planned it.  

Well, here is the good part!  One year a car pulled into  our dooryard on Halloween night.  Four kids hopped out, came to our front door, and knocked.  When they said, "Trick or Treat!" in very happy voices, my father held up his index finger to have them wait a moment.  He came back with his hands full of kittens and dropped one kitten into each bag.  Four kittens.  That family never came trick or treating again!  I thought it was pretty funny.