Trick or Treat Archives - Petticoats & Pistols

For the past month, I’ve been at war with myself. Every time I walk into the grocery store, I’m weaving through towers of displays with every kind of Halloween candy imaginable. I push the cart around bags of Reese’s, only to be confronted with “fun-size” peanut M&Ms. *gulp*

I’m not buying it. Come on, Jill, stay strong!

Beads of sweat line my forehead. The cart slows. Maybe I slow. Who knows? But a sharp right turn leads me down the first row of delicious candy. Then the next one. And the next.

I’m pretty sure I clipped a digital coupon for 30% off. And, wait, is that a buy one get one free deal?

Before I know it, five bags of candy are in my cart.

I have no regrets.

Jill Kemerer at fall festival pretending to stir a steaming cauldron — I’m getting into the spooky season spirit at a local fall festival!

Candy, candy, candy! I love it all! (Well, not candy corn, although I will eat it occasionally.)

All this candy brings me back to my days trick-or-treating. We lived out in the country in mid-Michigan. My mom would usually drive my sister and I to trick or treat. We always stopped at Grandma and Grandpa B.’s house first. Good call on my mom’s part. Grandma would take a bag of mini Milky Ways and start dumping them into our bags. I loved her!

Then we’d head to various aunts and uncles and stop at Grandma and Grandpa D.’s house. Grandma usually made up little treat bags. She was a fabulous cook, so when I saw a popcorn ball, I got excited. Occasionally she’d throw in an apple or shelled peanuts, too. I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t into the healthy stuff. The apple and peanuts were probably the last thing I ate!

Another highlight was stopping at our babysitter’s house. Margaret would line a cookie sheet with full-size candy bars, and we could choose any one we wanted. Exciting times!

After we’d made all the stops, we’d head home and dump out our bags. Then came the negotiations. My sister and I had fun trading for favorite candy. My mom and dad always got my Mounds and Almond Joy bars. Coconut wasn’t my thing back then. I don’t mind it now.

I still love Tootsie Rolls. I’m sure it’s from my Halloween days. Oh, and Smarties–the little sugar candies. And Laffy Taffy, and M&Ms, and Twix, and Reese’s, and Snickers, and…

Oh, boy.

I have a problem.

What can I say? I love Halloween candy!

What’s your favorite candy? Were you allowed to trick or treat when you were young?

Have the best day!

Game Day!

Let’s go trick-or-treating for cowboy goodies!

Who says dress-up is just for kids? Costumes are fun for adults, too, and here at P&P, they are especially fun if they have a western flair.

Here are some blasts from the Fillies’ pasts:

Karen Witemeyer’s son Wyatt dressed up as a famous Texas Ranger known for his solitary ways. And our dear Shanna Hatfield from her college days dressed as a feisty cowgirl.

Gotta love seeing Linda Broday and Mary Connealy in their western getups.

Travel back to the summer of 1969 for the NebraskaLand Days Parade. Pam Crooks’s two brothers helped her dad build a telephone float and are dressed as Wyatt Earp and an Indian in front of a make-believe campfire.