With Halloween just one day away, I had begun to reminisce to my high school days and how beautiful our old high school looked the morning after Halloween.

My high school years were spent at an old, two-story school that boasted beautiful, arched entrances and a tower that stood proud and tall in the center of campus.

The grounds of old GHS were adorned with huge oak trees which, every year on Halloween, were decorated with pink, green, blue and white toilet paper streamers. Almost an entire roll of paper could be used up with just one good toss. All of those rolls turned our already beautiful school into a work of art - a masterpiece.

Although we could never prove it, we always believed our principal spent Halloween night wrapped up in a blanket in the top of the tower, writing down names and the makes and models of vehicles. The following day, students would be called to the office to pick up their trash bags.

In all honesty, no one ever minded the cleanup because we got out of class to do it and it was a small debt to pay for having so much fun the night before.

Those times are gone forever. Why? 1) I'm too old and 2) No more pastels. However, Halloween continues to be one of my favorite holidays.
This Halloween, my husband, Frank, took our son, Garrett, trick or treating around our neighborhood and I stayed home to pass out candy. I read the other day that most households spend approximately $18 on Halloween candy. Not so at the Ryan household.

When my Motocross man (Garrett) and my husband returned, I quickly sent Frank to the store for more candy. It was only 7:30 and we had already gone through three large, plastic, grocery store sacks full of candy.

Garrett had planned for weeks on how he could scare trick or treaters who came to our door, especially those he knew from school. While his dad pulled out of the driveway, headed to the store for more candy, he quickly donned his skull mask and black hooded cape and took control of the candy bowl. It wasn't long before he yelled for me to get more candy from his own treat bag to replenish the bowl.

I suppose I was skimpy on this year's candy purchase due to last year's low turnout. Due to rainy weather, we had only eight die-hard trick or treaters who knocked on our door. About a month ago, while unpacking Halloween decorations, I opened the cabinet above my fridge and pulled out our large Halloween candy bowl. Yep - there sat approximately $18 worth of year-old Halloween candy.

When Frank returned from the store, we took what was left over in the candy bowl and returned it to Garrett's treat bag. We then let him fill his bag with his choice of the newly stocked sweets. He was happy, the trick or treaters coming up the drive would soon be happy, but my husband was a little upset. With all of his running around, he had yet to scare a trick or treater.

With our front porch decorated and "The Monster Mash" reverberating from the dining room window, my son took up a position behind three strategically placed hay bales and my husband, disguised in a totally hideous mask with wild hair, hid in the bushes to wait for an unsuspecting mark. Unfortunately, most of the witches and pirates and Snow Whites had already gone home for the night.

Of course, I must digress and say that it is policy at the Ryan household to only scare children who are nine or 10 years of age or older. Younger children are passed over, but parents and/or chaperones are fair game.

Trick or treaters continued to trickle in until 8:30 p.m., providing Frank and Garrett at least a couple of opportunities to chase screaming children from our door. Once out of reach of "The Skull" and "Crazy Man," screams turned to giggles as the trick or treaters proceeded to the next house.

Wednesday morning, on my way in to work, I searched in vain for a skillfully rolled house. I know that some frown on this kind of activity, but I suppose the kid in me remains. To my dismay, I didn't encounter one masterpiece.

During my drive, my thoughts once again turned to the disappearance of pastels. It dawned on me that, about the time that they took color out of toilet paper, red M & Ms were also removed from store shelves. The red candy has since been reintroduced, but toilet paper remains bland and colorless. Perhaps I'll write to Charmin and request retro pastels. Not only would mint green look good from the trees, it would also go great in the master bath.

Jana Ryan is a reporter for the Minden Press-Herald. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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