Halloween Days of Yesteryear

This year, Halloween will be different.

This year, we won’t be building a costume around a hat plucked from the Hat Box, or scrambling to pull together a costume at the last minute.

This year, we won’t leave the Nonni in charge of giving out candy while we walk around the neighborhood talking to neighbors as our sons run up and down driveways.

This year, we won’t gather around the kitchen table with the evening’s bounty, everyone burrowing through the pile looking for their favorite treat—a Babe Ruth (me), Sour Patch Kids (the boys), Hershey’s bars (Joe), Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (Nonna), or any candy bar (Nonno, who likes it all).

This year, for the first time in over 20 years, we won’t have a child trick-or-treating. There will be no puppies, court jesters, Mr. Potato Heads, cattle rustlers, Harry Potters, Luke Skywalkers, pirates, football players, or Uncle Si.

Which is why this year ... I am thinking of all the Halloween days of yesteryear.