The Halloween Grinch
I realized something about myself today. I am a Halloween Grinch. I don't pass out candy, I don't dress up, I don't carve pumpkins. I just don't do Halloween.
Not sure when my Halloween Grinchiness started, but I think I can trace it back to the year my mom made kcsis and me Raggedy Ann and Andy costumes. I was in the first grade and all the kids teased me about the red yarn wig my mom had made. Now, don't get me wrong, my mom is one hell of a seamstress and she made great costumes, but that wig thingy was the bane of my existence for two years, because the following year, she reused it for my clown costume. And thus, the Halloween Grinch was born.
The only Halloween tradition I like is going to the Haunted Houses. Kansas City is famous for a lot of things (BBQ, jazz, the Chiefs choking during the playoffs...) but what you may not know about KC is that at the beginning of every October, the West Bottoms come alive (so to speak) with zombies, ghouls and ax murderers when the haunted houses open. These places are old, huge, empty, creaky warehouses that during normal times are pretty scary, but come October they get a Halloween make over and become even more spooky. Every year, my mom would take me, kcsis and several of our friends downtown to places called 'The Edge of Hell' or 'Catacombs' to get the crap scared out of us. It was awesome. I won't deny that I was (and still am) a huge chicken when it came to going through these places and screamed like a 6 year old sissy. And the only reason I'm admitting it is because kcsis will totally rat me out in the comments if I tried to pretend otherwise, wouldn't you sis? It seems that not even the ghouls of hell could scare the Grinch out of me though.
So, tonight while other people are oohing and ahhing over tots dressed as princesses or pirates and sullen 15 year old kids dressed like sullen 15 year old kids, I'll be watching a movie and pretending I'm not home. All hail the Halloween Grinch!!!
Not sure when my Halloween Grinchiness started, but I think I can trace it back to the year my mom made kcsis and me Raggedy Ann and Andy costumes. I was in the first grade and all the kids teased me about the red yarn wig my mom had made. Now, don't get me wrong, my mom is one hell of a seamstress and she made great costumes, but that wig thingy was the bane of my existence for two years, because the following year, she reused it for my clown costume. And thus, the Halloween Grinch was born.
The only Halloween tradition I like is going to the Haunted Houses. Kansas City is famous for a lot of things (BBQ, jazz, the Chiefs choking during the playoffs...) but what you may not know about KC is that at the beginning of every October, the West Bottoms come alive (so to speak) with zombies, ghouls and ax murderers when the haunted houses open. These places are old, huge, empty, creaky warehouses that during normal times are pretty scary, but come October they get a Halloween make over and become even more spooky. Every year, my mom would take me, kcsis and several of our friends downtown to places called 'The Edge of Hell' or 'Catacombs' to get the crap scared out of us. It was awesome. I won't deny that I was (and still am) a huge chicken when it came to going through these places and screamed like a 6 year old sissy. And the only reason I'm admitting it is because kcsis will totally rat me out in the comments if I tried to pretend otherwise, wouldn't you sis? It seems that not even the ghouls of hell could scare the Grinch out of me though.
So, tonight while other people are oohing and ahhing over tots dressed as princesses or pirates and sullen 15 year old kids dressed like sullen 15 year old kids, I'll be watching a movie and pretending I'm not home. All hail the Halloween Grinch!!!
posted by kcterrilynn at 11:45 AM
10 Comments:
wow...we really do have a lot in common. i can't stand halloween. it would be perfectly ok with me if we removed it from the calendar.
if i were in denver i would gladly come over and celebrate our anti-halloweeness.
i'm another grincher! agree w/carl . . wouldn't miss it if it were taken off the calendar.
Spacks & Toes: Who knew there were so many of us? Grinches unite!!!
Don't tell me. All three of you are some of those people who think that Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays of the year, aren't you?
Tim: Well DUH! Thanksgiving has mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and football...what more do you need?!
I, on the other hand, ABSOLUTELY love Halloween - the costumes, the parties, the creativity - yep - love it. It's a good thing I don't have edit powers to this blog, because the Raggedy Ann and Clown picutres would magically appear. You were sooo cute though. I still have your wig - ya want it back??!! I really want to go to haunted houses - take the kids - but they are like $20.00 per person now-a-days. I may have to start saving now for next year!! And yes, you were entirely too goosy in the haunted house - which made it twice as fun!!
Tim,
how could you not like turkey day?
Sis: can you email me the pics? I'll post 'em...I promise. And no, you can keep that damn wig. I can't believe it still exsists.
Spacks: I agree, there's obviously something very, very wrong with Tim.
Well, aside from the fact that it's rather hypocritical to celebrate what was essentially the beginning of our eradication of an entire native population, it's the parades. I can't stand parades. Unless it's Mardi Gras.
Halloween is just fun. I don't have any kids and don't particularly care about kids. That being said, I like Halloween because, at its core, it is a day for kids. Adults have stripped them of so much of their childhood today. It's nice to just have a day where they can dress up and go out and get candy. I know, adults have pretty much usurped Halloween too but when I dress up and decorate my house, it's too make it at least a little memorable for the kids that come by. I like the memories of Halloween that I have and I think it is cool if kids today can still form a few untainted childhood memories.
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