We Love Halloween

WE LOVE HALLOWEEN! There are many families who don't believe in celebrating Halloween and we are definitely not one of them. We LOVE Halloween. Not because of devilry, spooks, ghosts, or haunted houses - my kids never knew that side of Halloween or the controversiality of it. They knew Halloween as family and candy and dressing up. When they were younger. Now, they know Halloween as rolling yards and the usual teenage trickery.

We lived in a very rural area when I was growing up. We live in the same area now, it's just not quite as rural as it was 30 years ago. We didn't live in a subdivision, and really there weren't any subdivisions nearby to trick or treat in. All of our Halloweens were spent in a car full of kids in plastic costumes with plastic masks that got all wet inside from our warm breath on a cool night. We jumped in and out of the car, ran to the door, got our candy, and ran back to the car. On the way to and from the door, we would run into our cousins and other friends doing the same thing. We always spent a little extra time at our grandmother's house, and our aunts and uncles. They always made us feel like their night wasn't complete until we showed up.

When we got home, we dumped all our candy out on the dining room table and took a deep whiff of that "Halloween candy aroma." We checked it for razor blades, any open candy, or candy that looked like it had been tampered with, (cuz you know we had all heard those stories and we did NOT want to be the one that bit into the apple and found a razor blade). Once all the safety checks had been done the trading began. The candy was sorted out in piles and we traded milk duds for Now and Laters, Mounds for Almond Joy, and counted how many Reece's cups we got. You had to count them so you would know if someone was sneaking into your candy - MOM!

Anthony's first Halloween he was a lion - Simba. We went to Auntie Charkie's and she had gotten him a book. And they sat down and read it. We also got a picture of him and Dot Dot.

On Alex's first Halloween, Anthony wanted to be a fish. A fish! They don't have many/ANY fish costumes at Wal-Mart. I made a fish out of a cardboard box and my mom went along with us and dressed up like a fisherman. Alex was a clown so I dressed up like a clown with her. This picture was taken at Aunt Lib's house.

I don't know where Anthony got his ideas for costumes, but this year (1998), he wanted to be a robber. This is my grandmother giving them their candy, and apparently Anthony was getting more candy than Alex, or better candy, or probably she was just mad that he was getting any candy at all! She was already showing signs of bossiness. If we only knew... Look at poor Anthony. He was so good at ignoring her. I wish he was good at ignoring her now!

Anthony's robber costume.

Alex as a princess bride with my grandmother, and Anthony as a spider. As much as he hates spiders now, it's hard to believe this is what he wanted to be.

Alex as a princess bride again. She is wearing the dress that the flower girl wore in my wedding! And Anthony was a pirate. I have no idea how old they were in this picture. I'm thinking 4 and 6? Maybe. This was at my grandmother's after she moved back to the farm.

On this Halloween, Anthony wanted to be a Civil War drummer boy, which was in second grade. I think. That's when he was reading the The Magic Treehouse books, which had a picture of a little drummer boy on the front. They also don't have Civil War drummer boy costumes at Wal-Mart, and since I can't make costumes that aren't cardboard, we had to call in reinforcements. Dot Dot made this one for him. And Alex? At least I think that's Alex. I was afraid she would scare herself with this one but she didn't. We did have one year when Anthony had to buy a grim reaper costume for a play at church. It came with the black hooded cape and some really evil looking glasses. He put it on and looked at himself in the mirror and he really did scare himself. He wouldn't wear it anymore, and when he had to wear it for the play, he just stayed away from mirrors.

I think from drummer boy on, Anthony remained a soldier. Every year. Alex's ranged from basketball players, softball players, Hannah Montana, and a few more princesses.

One year our family was on a Little House on the Prairie kick. Dot Dot made Alex this amazing Laura dress and Anthony was... believe it or not, a soldier.

One thing remained the same from one Halloween to the next. They had a mental list of the houses we had to go to. Aunt Wilma's, Aunt Lib's, Mammy's, Momou's, Charkie's, Dot Dot's, Iva, and Terry's. We also went to Miss Paula's, Linda's, and Sally's. I am so thankful that this year, 2005, I decided to take pictures. I got a picture of them with Aunt Lib and Aunt Wilma. I'm so glad to have these pictures.



Now, see why we LOVE Halloween.

My Soldier Died. Twice.

This weekend, Anthony had a reenactment in the Knoxville area. The Battle of Fort Sanders. This is held on a family's farm in Corryton, Tennessee. They have built this fort, which is very similar to the actual one at Fort Sanders, and it stays intact on their farm from year to year. This battle took place on a very cold day in November. Many of the confederate soldiers were barefoot during this battle, and they were told there were shoes in the fort. Talk about motivation! They had the Union soldiers outnumbered, and didn't anticipate much of a battle. They were wrong. The Union soldiers had the benefit of this nice fort they had built. It was a hill with a huge, deep moat around it. The walls were smooth and hard to climb. And the Confederates lost.

While we were looking around on Friday night before the battle started, I was taking Anthony's picture on the top of the fort. One of the Federal reenactors hollered at him, "Reb, you better enjoy yourself! That's the last time you'll see the top of this fort!"

One interesting thing I learned about this fort (from a history buff sitting beside us) was that when the original fort was built there were lots of trees around. They cut down all of the trees so they would have a good line of vision, and then they strung telegraph wire between the stumps so that when the confederates charged the fort, they were tripped up.

The first battle of the day was the "Mortal Wounding of General Sanders."

Then we walked to another field where the actual Battle of Fort Sanders took place. This weekend there was only one horse but there were several cannons.

Anthony's grandfather has a friend who owns this cannon. I love to go to the reenactments where they have cannon fire. If you've never heard it before, there's nothing like it. It is sooooo loud. And the horse never moved.

The only problem with these large participation events is that I can't find Anthony. This weekend he had joined a group of sharp shooters/snipers. They entered the battle field so far away that I just couldn't make him out. But he's out there somewhere.

He charged the fort, and unfortunately, didn't make it. I wasn't able to go to the reenactment on Saturday, so I was texting Tony, "Did he die yet?" "Yes." "Did he die good?" "Yes." Then, he sent me a picture of my dead soldier. Momma's don't wanna have this image in their mind. He had made it to the top of the fort, had a little hand to hand combat, was killed, and slid back down to the bottom. The reenactors stayed in their position while the spectators were allowed to wander around the battlefield. And get pictures of their dead (smiling) soldiers.

Wanna know the momma's favorite time of the reenactment?

Resurrection.

Another Tournament Win!

Middle school softball season ended last week. It ended with this...

A first place win!

We had to play a very tough team three times last week. One game went 10 innings, one game went 7 innings, and one game went 8 innings. She pitched 25 innings last week to the same team! The final game was decided in 8 innings with a score of 2 to 1. She also received the game ball.

What do you do after a hard fought tournament win?

The worm, of course...

...on home plate.