Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween tidbits:
Trick or treating was imported from European immigrants who came the US, especially the Irish. When the baby boom of the 1950's occurred, children and popular culture embraced the neighborhood door-to-door tradition we know today.

The custom of 'trick or treat' probably has several origins. Again mostly Irish.An old Irish peasant practice called for going door to door to collect money, bread cake, cheese, eggs, butter, nuts, apples, etc., in preparation for the festival of St. Columbus Kill. Yet another custom was the begging for soul cakes, or offerings for one's self - particularly in exchange for promises of prosperity or protection against bad luck. It is with this custom the concept of the fairies came to be incorporated as people used to go door to door begging for treats. Failure to supply the treats would usually result in practical jokes being visited on the owner of the house.
(a-hem...go Irish)

I know many people that didn't trick-or-treat growing up, and in turn don't take their kids trick-or-treating. We didn't grow up like that. My dad was always a blast around Halloween (still is, I'm just not living near them), and we trick-or-treated every year. We'd finish the night off by sorting through our candy and watching a scary movie.

Which leads me to my next question: what's the scariest movie you can think of (seen)?
For me, it's The Exorcist. The first one. It's based on factual events, too. I think I first saw that movie when I was six years old. Isn't that insane?!

Dumbest scary movie? Well, my brother Kevin and I loved to watch Shocker. "No more Mr, nice Guy, Johnny!". Ahhh. The good ol' days.

If I was dressing up this year, I would have been a Whoopee Cushion. I saw the best costume for that at Wal-Mart. I just couldn't justify spending $40 on it with no big place to wear it. But that would have been fun. I would have walked behind Pat all night and announce he was farting. :-~

I've posted them before, but I just can't resist. Here are our Halloweens, past & present:
Aidan's first Halloween!

Aidan as Superman, 2005, 18 months old

Aidan as a doggy, 2006, 2 1/2 years old
Firefighter Aidan with his dalmatian brother; Brennan's first Halloween, last year
And now this year! This is Aidan as Batman with his cousin. Brennan is Superman, but those pictures will be taken tonight. :)
Happy Halloween! Hope you have a spooktacular day!

6 comments:

Sue said...

Happy Halloween!!!! arrrrgh!!!! wish we were all together. trick or treat!

Mandy said...

Frick had that same fire fighter costume last year!

Happy Halloween!

Sue said...

ummm... scariest movie: Amityville Horror (the original) & Cape Fear. dumbest: what's that doll one? Chuckie??

Amy said...

Hope everyone had their fill of treats tonight! We sure did. The scariest movie I think I've ever seen is The Hand that Rocks the Cradle. Lame, I know, but I don't do scary movies.

Hyperactive Lu said...

Those costumes are great! Happy Halloween!

Lynn said...

Your pictures are adorable! We also had a little pumpkin and little batman and little doggie once upon a time . . .
So cute. Thanks for sharing.

My vote for scariest movie will always be Wizard of Oz. We watched it every year at Halloween time as kids, and for weeks I'd be afraid the wingy monkeys were hiding behind the bathroom door.