Soon I began to feel the same way about Halloween. At school I would see my friends dressed up like Power Rangers or kitty cats, but I would be in my regular clothes.
“Why didn’t you dress up?” my friends would ask.
“I am not allowed to wear dress-up clothes at school,” I would reply, which was true.
It was not that we were not allowed to dress up. I played dress-up all the time with my brother and my friends. We had a huge trunk filled with old flashy prom dresses, my dad’s old police uniforms, and lots of superhero capes and masks, though we never had anything scary. It was the meaning behind Halloween that turned my parents off, the gory costumes, horror stories, and witchcraft associated with the October night. Because of the negative connotations, we did not dress up and show our support of that holiday.
Even though we did not get to dress up and go trick-or-treating, I always thought our Halloween nights were the best. We created our own holiday. It was the one night each year my entire family would watch a movie together in our pajamas, which meant lots of laughing and quality time with the people I loved. Each year, my family would turn out our house lights, pop popcorn in the microwave, and watch a movie that would make us all laugh in our small quiet living room. We would ignore the knocks at our door and pretend not to be home. I found it very entertaining that I could ignore kids standing outside my house looking for candy.
We continued our celebration throughout the remainder of the weekend. We would visit my grandparents’ house in the country and have dinner with all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins outside on a picnic table, celebrating the last days of fall. The crisp fall air would blow the orange and brown leaves, which we raked up in piles and jumped in.
We always bought little round pumpkins, and after dinner we would paint them with bright colors and happy faces to sit on our porches and greet visitors. My brother always painted a Batman pumpkin, and mine resembled Miss America with caked-on makeup and big hair. Chocolate ice cream was served after dinner back in the house.
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