Halloween with Great Grams

She had spent all day preparing for the trick or treaters and her great granddaughter to come over for dinner.  She put the candy in the bowl counting twelve suckers and twelve boxes of milk duds for exactly twenty-four trick or treaters to come knocking on her door. She cut celery and spread peanut butter on the celery sticks; she also cut up carrots, made her great granddaughter extra cheesy macaroni with fun noodles, and even took the time to bake some lemon bars. It was a wonderfully great effort for a woman in her eighties.

She is my great grandmother, Ardyce LaBrie, she has lived in the house right off of Mission Road since she moved to Spokane from North Dakota many years back. I have so many memories of sitting in her living room as a young child, a living room that has ceased to change.

My great grams gave me a phone call the week before Halloween inviting me for dinner and I offered to help her pass out the treats to the neighborhood kids.

My mother told me that as far back as she could remember my great grandmother loved to have trick-or-treaters come knocking on her door. Seeing all the cute little kids dressed up in their funky costumes and counting how many T&Ters she would have.

After we ate the very special dinner we sat in the living room catching up on life, comparing churches, and reliving old memories. My great grams and I would see the kids through the giant portrait window coming down the street in packs or with there parents and then we would here they famous doorbell ring. Grams would smile and say someone was at the door and I would hand out the candy. One of the neighborhood boys, who happens to be my professors son, takes out my great grandmother’s trash and when he came to the door with his sister she was so excited to see them. It is amazing to see how much joy a kids could bring. Seeing my great grams smile only brought joy to my heart as well. 

Without much candy to give we had to close up shop early but that was fine because it gave us more time to chat without interruption.

Halloween is supposed to be goblins and mischief but for me it was just a humbling time exchanging conversation with the women who is the reason I exist.