As a kid, I always liked Halloween. I liked dressing up in a costume that I pick out at the store or, more often, we made out of odds and ends at home. The best part was going trick-or-treating . Some years, I went with my brothers and sisters. When I got a little older, I went with my friends. We would go to the houses in our neighborhood and knock or ring the doorbell. When the door opened, we would yell, "Trick or treat!‚" We never played tricks and always got treats. The neighbor would put some candy and chocolate bars in our bags. We would go home at the end of the night and eat them to our hearts' content .
To get ready for Halloween, my parents would buy pumpkins from the market or from themake-shift pumpkin patches on the side of the road so that we could make jack-o- lanterns. We took each pumpkin and cut off the top, scooped out the seeds from the inside, andcarved faces on the front. At night, we would put candles inside the jack-o- lanterns and put them on our doorstep . Sometimes we carved scary faces and sometimes they were funny ones.
I remember that one year, we had a Halloween party. Our friends came over dressed up aswitches, ghosts, superheros, cartoon characters , and anything else you can think of. We would play party games like bobbing for apples , and we even created a haunted house in our backyard. It was a blast ! Halloween is truly a holiday for kids.
Script by Dr. Jeff McQuillan