Some one asked me today..."Why do you like Hallowen so much? What's up with that?" I had to think about it. I have always loved Halloween. As a child, getting to get dressed up while running amok in the neighborhood and actually being allowed to take candy from strangers! What's not to love? Homemade ghosts made of bedsheets. The smell of firecrackers and candlelit pumpkins in the air takes me back to a time when trick or treaters lined the sidewalks on Halloween night and it wasn't unusual to have 200 or more ghosts and goblins knocking on the door looking for candy.
It's different now. Kids don't get to run wild on Halloween night. In fact, we're lucky to have a dozen trick or treaters. Costumes are all purchased at Walmart. Kids are restricted in their school activities for fear of offending another's beliefs. You can't give out home made treats and you now have to have a permit to let off fireworks in your yard. Plain and simple......"It just ain't what it used to be"
I suppose a large part of my love for Halloween is just me clinging to those childhood memories. Hot dogs and hot chocolate for dinner on Halloween night. Me, dressed as a witch eight years in a row. Sherry, the lady up the road who used to give out full sized chocolate bars and pop. My dad, lighting off fireworks dangerously close to the power lines and then raiding our candy stash before bed. All these silly little things, add up to some of the most memorable times of my childhood.
My love for Halloween and all those memories are what inspired me to start our yard haunt. It's a place where kids can go, get spooked and stuff themselves full of hot dogs and hot chocolate. A safe place with of the smell of candlelit pumpkins and where kids can be kids...or ghosts or witches.
It's also a time when new memories are created. Ones of my kids and I staying up late to create ghouls and spooks to scare the visitors. Of, my dad, proudly building our ghost. Our delight in seeing her "float". The girls, freezing their butts off to sell a few hotdogs. It's a time when my family, friends and I can work hard, be silly and immature and know that in the end our efforts will not only be a blast for the kids, but also help out families in need.
And last but not least, my wish is that perhaps when the children who visit the haunt are grown up, they will fondly remember and tell their own children about "that crazy lady on Holm road who had the cool haunt for us when we were kids." If that's the biggest thing I'm ever known for, I'm okay with that.
Please visit our haunt site and sign our guestbook. If you live nearby, feel free to visit our haunt this Halloween season. Admission is by donation to "Cameryn's Cause for Kids Society"
