Saturday, October 31, 2009

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun --Tricks and Treats


Hey boys and girls, it's Hallowe'en, and time for some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun! Play either before or after your trick or treating experiences, or even on Sunday morning after your extra hour of sleep (you did remember to set your clocks back, didn't you?).

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along - cue the Mission Impossible music!):

1) Think about your most memorable Hallowe'en - was it when you were a child (candy, games, carnivals), a teenager (tricks and treats), or an adult (perhaps a party)?

2) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post of mine, or in a comment on Twitter or Facebook in response to this post.

3) Have fun!

Here's mine:

My most memorable Hallowe'en "event" was after we were married and had the girls. Our young couples group at church always had a party at Hallowe'en and everybody got dressed up and we had games and stories and prizes. One year, I was still skinny enough to put on my wife's long maternity dress, stuff a bra with small towels, and put on panty-hose and short heels (fortunately, we're about the same height and shoe size), and dabs of perfume in the right spots [Memo to self - I don't want to do that again...]. I also had on my wife's long black wig and a nice mask with a woman's face with eyeholes. So off we go to the party. We always get to parties at the appointed time so as to get a full evenings worth of the punch, food and fun.

Our pastor at the time was divorced and had a reputation as a ladies man. He always showed up late to parties. When he showed up at the door, my wife scurried into the kitchen with several of the other wives while all the husbands milled about, oblivious since they knew it was me. I adjusted everything I could before the pastor walked in. I was sitting on the couch with my legs together (that's still hard for men, you know) and my ankles crossed (not any leg hair showing).

The pastor checked everything out, saw me on the couch, sidled over and introduced himself as Ted and I stood up. He said something like "you sure look nice tonight" and I shook his hand with a limpish wrist and responded in a falsetto voice "Enchante, I'm sure." He was totally confused and I heard giggles from the open kitchen door. I wasn't quick thinking enough to lead him on further, of course, being a staid Presbyterian. I slowly removed my mask and the room erupted in laughter and he turned red. Serves him right, trying to make time with an elder in the church (we didn't have female elders then).

It was a trick (on him) and a treat (for everyone else) and a fine Hallowe'en memory for for us. When we had the church's 25th anniversary party several years later, it was replayed with much hilarity - of course I could barely fit into the dress by then.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great story Randy, thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Tina's Halloween Memories

Elyse said...

One year, when I was an English Princess (I've been every kind of princess you can think of!), my mom took me and my cousin Jen out trick or treating. We walked up to one house and saw lots of "fake" bodies on the lawn. We received our candy and began walking to the sidewalk when the "fake" bodies stood up and tapped us on the shoulder. We screamed and began running down the sidewalk. We ran into the street (thank heavens no cars came) and I ran for 3 whole blocks before I stopped. My mom stood in front of that house laughing the entire time. Too bad for my mom because I was wearing her rare costume jewelry that fell off of me and disappeared.

Good times.

Lori Thornton said...

Here are mine: http://familyhistorian.blogspot.com/2009/10/sngf-most-memorable-halloween.html.

footnoteMaven said...

Randy:

It was a dark and stormy night and I was the "Great Pumpkin."

What I am calling a footnoteMaven Classic:

"I Once Was The Great Pumpkin."

-fM

FranE said...

Here is mine. I was a bit like Elyse.
http://joyoustomorrows.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-most-memorable-halloween-at-age-of.html

Greta Koehl said...

Ah, yes, good times. Mine's at http://gretabog.blogspot.com/2009/10/sngf-halloween-memories.html.

FranE said...

Okay you through me into a memory lane. I had to post my dad's memory.
Here it is.
http://branchingoutthroughtheyears.blogspot.com/2009/10/memorable-halloween-stories.html

Anonymous said...

Here's my post

Carol said...

Ha! That was hilarious Randy. Good one! Happy Halloween :)

Carol said...

I wrote one too and you can find it on iPentimento|Genealogy and History
http://ipentimento.com

grace said...

great story Randy, I would of love to have seen that one being a preacher's daughter. my story is in a different mood. It is about a baby brother I never knew. I have copied my post and put in my family research book for some one to read years from now.