That’s one of my favorite holidays! Of course I don’t have quite as many decorations outside as I did in the past, but I have my light-up skulls and pumpkins in the living room and on the dining room table. I can’t believe they still have the ability to light up after I push the little button on the bottom.

  It was neat when we used to have lots of trick or treaters knocking on our front door. I always had a big pumpkin shaped container full of small bags of candy and other treats. I would take my children to various subdivisions around McDonough so they could get some freebies too.  We only knocked on the doors of people we actually knew though.  City Square had lots of wonderful decorations back in the day, as they also did at Christmas.

  I had one interesting Halloween myself. After retiring from SunTrust on a Friday, I went to work the following Monday at United Mortgage. As they got me settled at my assigned desk, the office manager asked me what I’d be wearing later that week on Halloween. I hesitated, then asked did they always dress up for Halloween?  And her answer was … doesn’t everybody? So, I agreed to dress up and actually had a fairly new witch outfit complete with a huge pointed hat. I got up that morning, slipped into the big black dress, added a little extra makeup and then I donned the hag hat. We had pagers back then, and as I drove toward work, I received my first page. I stopped and called to ask what was up and the office manager told me to go by Kroger and pick up some paper plates for the office. As I entered and strolled the aisles, I got lots of smiles and of course, when I checked out, the clerk admired my outfit and makeup. I got back in the car and in just a few minutes got another page. Now they needed me to stop at a drugstore and find some sticky notes. Once again I received smiles and was greeted warmly by everyone in there. I still hadn’t arrived at work when I got ANOTHER page. This time they needed me to go to another store that sold Halloween decorations and see if I could find a skull or something similar. I located the requested item, and was getting lots of smiles as I shopped and then paid. Well guess what? I got to the office and I was the only one dressed for the day! They all had a good laugh and I knew that, once again, I’d found a happy place to work. They did have the office well decorated and some neat Halloween type snacks available for us and our customers. I decided I’d just stay at work in my outfit but I did take the hat off until I was ready to head for home. Driving south down the double lanes from Stockbridge, other drivers waved at me and blew their horns, smiling at my big black hat. 

  I loved when we would have trunk or treat at Mt. Bethel and we’d wear our costumes as we handed out goodies from our vehicles. One of our members had on a black and white striped shirt, sunglasses and a cane as he told us he was a blind referee. I wore my witch outfit one year, and another time wore my teen granddaughter’s Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) outfit complete with red shoes. I enjoyed going to the Square with my grandkids so they could collect candy from the local merchants. As a pre-teen myself, I liked visiting the Carmichael House for free treats and spooky music playing, dressed of course as Dale Evans. A great celebration for ALL ages!