Some of my most cherished memories – as far back as I can remember – are of celebrating Halloween.  As children – my brothers, sisters, and I, begged our treats in costumes most often handmade by my mom.  Sometimes they were pieced together from “this or that” found lying around the house, but many were constructed from elaborate patterns and entailed hours of work.  Often, with my mother at the sewing machine right up until the very last minute, we headed out the door to gather our goodies in some of the most adorable costumes you can imagine.

Later came my turn to dress Jael for Halloween. In her earliest years I chose the costumes for her.  At only six months she was a precious little pumpkin.  And at two or three, she wore a little tutu that had belonged to me at that age and went as a pretty pink ballerina. Following that were the years when nothing but dressing the part of the latest Disney movie character would do.  It killed me to put her in a costume out of a package, but I capitulated and Sleeping Beauty and Jasmine won out.   After that phase, she usually came up with her own designs.  They were always very creative.  I particularly remember the year she asked if I could make her a marionette costume.  She wanted strings to extend from the top of her head and all four limbs, and, she wanted it to look as though she was being suspended from above. Of course she did.  But wait, that wasn’t all.  It was that time in adolescent development when girls want to do everything with their best friend.  So, she asked if I could make two marionette costumes.  One for her, and one for Lisa.  To be honest,  I was just so tickled that she had asked me to make her a costume, I would have said yes to any request.  To give credit where credit is due, I must tell you that her dad made the entire wooden contraption components for both costumes.  They were the best costumes we have ever made.

Those years seem to have passed in a blink of an eye, but not before we began a tradition that lasted for ten years and brought endless joy to many friends, neighbors, and trick or treaters.  It began innocently enough one year when Halloween came on the heals of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.  We decided to transform our Sukkah into a haunted house.  (No disrespect intended)  It was a small, one room deal that we built on our deck that first year, but grew (with the help of family and friends) to a five room spectacle that covered our entire property and frightened the bajabbers out of hundred of brave souls.  Those were fun years and the most memorable of Halloweens.

Change being the only constant in the universe, kids grow up and go off in all directions and the face of Halloween would never be the same at our house.  The first Halloween after Jael left for college was painful.  My nest was empty, we had moved to a new home, decorations remained in the attic, and there was no haunted house that year – or since.  I wish I could say that it has gotten easier, and I guess in some ways it has.   Time helps.  The memories help.

Jael pleaded with us to build another haunted house this year, explaining she could at least enjoy the experience vicariously through our story telling post the frightful night.  She, too, misses our tradition.  And, although I don’t think we will be going to that extent, I am slowly getting my Halloween back on.  In the spirit of ghost, ghouls, and goblins, I may even hand out candy to trick or treaters for the first time in four years.  I’m trying.  As evidence of this, I made these adorable cookies.  Part baking –  part craft, children and adults alike will have fun with this one.  Did I mention – they actually taste good too!