Halloween and History

Once again, Halloween has come and gone.

Throngs of people (costumed or not), with or without costumed kiddies in tow (or in strollers), shuffled along the streets of the historic section of our town and begged candy from people in decorated houses along the way.

Once again, The Colonel, Yam and I (costumed) joined the throngs.

On Halloween night, when I was a child, I would be too excited to want to eat supper. I just wanted to put on my costume and pound the pavement for candy. Mom said we could not Trick-or-Treat until we ate and until it was dark enough (usually around 6:30 or 7:00 p.m.).

This Halloween evening found me excited (mainly agitated) around supper time again. The Colonel and I had worked all day at the museum (10 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.). We had made plans with Yam to have supper at her house (she got home from work around 4:45 p.m.), put on our costumes, walk next door to show our costumes to The Colonel's parents and have a couple of pictures taken before walking downtown. We wanted to be downtown around 6:30 p.m. so that there was still some light to be able to see the costumes and decorations.

Best laid plans...this is where the agitation came in...Before we left the museum, I called (on the museum's phone) an order for pizza to be delivered to Yam's house around 5:00 p.m. I told the girl on the other end of the line what address I wanted the pizza to be delivered (Yam's house of course). The girl said, "Oh, I will have to change the address of delivery because it is showing the address of the museum because you used its phone to make the call." I said okay, completed the order and hung up.

The Colonel and I closed the museum and headed to Yam's house. Yam let us in and we chatted while awaiting the 5:00 p.m. arrival of our pizza. No pizza delivery man showed up. The girl did say they would try to get the pizza there as close to 5:00 p.m. as possible. So, we waited some more.

As each minute ticked by I felt I was channeling my younger self; I wanted to hurry to get supper done so that I could get dressed and hit the streets. We gave the pizza delivery man a bit more time, thinking it was Halloween after all and maybe many others were ordering pizza for supper too.

Finally (5:20 p.m.) with my agitation meter fully pegged, I called the pizza place (trying to keep a civil tone).

"I ordered a pizza for a 5:00 p.m. delivery and it has not arrived yet." (Notice no exclamation point?)

"Oh, he has been to the house, knocked on the door and even has called the house but no one is answering."

"That is because you sent him to the wrong place. I told you it would be a different address from the phone number's." (Please God, do not let me loose it...I do not want the pizza man to spit on my pizza if it ever arrives).

I hear the girl on the phone talking to one of her associates. They figure it out. They call the pizza delivery man and he is at the door very shortly thereafter. He was full of apologies. I know it was not his fault.

The pizza is still warm and it is delicious.

I do not like when businesses only go by the phone number you call them on. They never listen to you. They only notice the phone number and what address is associated with it. Another case in point.

When Darling-Sister-In-Law passed away The Colonel called her television company (which happened to be the same one we use) to tell them that she had died and that he wanted her cable stopped. He had supplied them with her name, address and customer account number. Because he called from our home phone they disconnected our service instead. They never listened to what The Colonel said, just went by the phone number. We had quite a run around with the cable company as we tried to straighten them out. We got our service back, but they think we are new customers (we have been with this company for several years).

Back to pizza...

We ate our pizza (saving some to take over to my In-Laws when we went over later) and then began to put on our costumes.

Yam's costume was "practically perfect in every way". She dressed as Mary Poppins. She had virtually gotten everything from Goodwill.

The Colonel's costume was equally perfect. He had been purchasing items on line a few months prior to Halloween. He went as a Templar Knight.

Because I am in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), I have some some colonial costumes. I decided to go as Betsy Ross. I even made a representation of the colonial flag (I used Stitch Witch...sorry Betsy) and carried it with me in a basket.

We were all dressed up and definitely had someplace to go. We walked across the street, with pizza box in hand and rang my In-Laws' doorbell.

"Trick-or-Treat", I chimed.

They loved our costumes as we eagerly showed them off (once again, channeling my inner child) and had our pictures taken.

We took our leave and walked towards town, a mere two blocks away. It was around 6:30 p.m. and still light out. The Colonel said his vision was slightly impacted by his metal helmet's eye slits but he navigated the sidewalks and streets very well the entire evening as it grew darker.

As we walked around several people waved, called out to Mary Poppins or sang "A Spoonful of Sugar Makes the Medicine Go Down" as they passed by. Many people called out to the Knight saying, "It's only a flesh wound" or "What game are you from?" There were a few that knew he was a Templar Knight and not someone from a Monty Python movie or a video game. Several people snapped pictures of the Knight and Mary Poppins. I heard a couple of people say, "That was Betsy Ross" as they passed by. One man (an aged hippy) came up to us, gave us candy and strummed his chimes so I asked him who he thought I was. His vacant stare then prompted me to point out what was in my basket. Still a vacant stare.

"It's red, white and blue", I said.

"Oh, it's a flag?"

"Yes, and there are 13 stars on it..."

"Um, the colonial flag...oh, you're um Betsy Ross."

Finally, like pulling teeth. To be fair...he was an aged hippy and had probably partaken of much weed for the majority of his life and maybe even that evening. The long term effects just are not known. So much for legalizing recreational marijuana. Just say no!

Mary Poppins, the Knight and I decided we did not want to eat his candy.

A family of four came up to me and the mom asked her youngest girl who I was supposed to be. She knew I was someone from history and that I sewed the first American flag but she could not remember my name. Her older sister finally told her I was Betsy Ross. Another woman came up to us and wanted to take our picture with her kids. It was their first year Trick-or-Treating downtown. We obliged. She knew I was a historical figure named Betty Ross...close, I would cut her some slack. I was expecting more people (young and old) to know who I was portraying....maybe it is symptomatic of the lack of American History taught in our schools today or dare I say, maybe my costume wasn't as thought provoking as I thought it would be.

We stayed on a street corner and just people-watched for a while. It was fun to see the kids and adults in their costumes. A few people stopped and snapped pictures of Mary Poppins, the Knight or all three of us. The Colonel and Yam's costumes were a hit. I may have harbored a tiny bit of jealousy with the attention the were paid, but I was more proud of the great costume ideas and their perfect execution of them.

We finally called it a night around 8:30 p.m. and walked back to Yam's house. We de-costumed and had a little apple cider. The Colonel and I did not stay long, as Yam had to work the next day.

I have a whole year to come up with another costume for next year. I may forego any historical figures though.