90's Halloween and the Family that Didn't

My siblings and I grew up knowing that witches were evil and all of the other satanic things that go along with them like Halloween were too. My parents had heard the rumors about kidnappings and satanic rituals that happened on Halloween so we really didn't get to celebrate it like most kids. I'm not even going to argue about that. I still have suspicions. But both of them had grown up trick-or-treating, and my mom, being from small town Iowa, understood that kids kind of feel left out if they're the only ones not doing it.
Which did not push her to get us included. Instead, she just kind of did her own thing with us each year. There was a parade at school in elementary which we never dressed up for but got to be in. Teachers were cool. I never heard a kid say anything bad to me about it (but I was also socially unaware so that doesn't mean they didn't).
Around that time churches started hosting "harvest fests" which we all knew was Christian Halloween. So we'd go to those sometimes. But the epic years were the years when we just stayed home. Being a homebody introvert I didn't really care about missing out on all the stuff. I just wished I could eat candy. (Parents were also sort of all natural hippies so candy was pretty sparse in our house).
One year my older brother had a roller skating party to go to and my baby brother went to bed early, so Mom and I watched Meet Me in St. Louis on TV. It was my first introduction to that amazing movie and to some pretty weird traditions that people (apparently) used to do on Halloween at the turn of the century. It was a good memory for me because I got some rare one-on-one time with my mom. Also my brother came home with a giant bag of candy, which my mom put into a little tin and hid on top of the pantry cupboard and I would occasionally sneak in there and steal a couple pieces.
When we moved to town, we weren't sure what to do, being fundamentally opposed to Halloween. My parents decided to give out candy but we didn't participate in trick-or-treating. That was fine. I was ten anyway, and this way I had unlimited access to the stash. Mom also decided to keep us home from school since it was just a big Halloween party day anyway. She rented a movie (A Christmas Story) and we stayed in watching one of the best movies ever. It became a little bit of a tradition to watch a Christmas movie on Halloween then. We also still watch A Christmas Story every Christmas.
We had a few trick-or-treaters that year, including a couple of guys from my class who we all knew were too old to be out begging for candy. The doorbell rang after we'd shut the light off and all of us gathered by the door, curious who had the gall to trick or treat without a light. A huge figure stood in the door frame dressed in a trench coat and a warm Russian hat. My mom didn't want to answer the door but my brother threw it open anyway. "Trick or treat!" a voice said. A familiar voice. It was my dad. He'd sneaked around the back door to try and surprise us all. My mom spent a while recovering from the heart attack she almost had while the rest of us laughed about it for quite a while.
There were good times together those years when we all stayed home. Once my brother found one of those mutated carrots that didn't get thinned out enough in the garden and it looked like a hand. He would shove it out the door when the masqueraders came a-knocking, making it look like a creepy monster was passing out candy. He also hid behind the bushes a few times planning to jump out at trouble-makers and scare them.
Eventually we all went our own ways and Halloween wasn't a concern as young adults. The first year I moved back to town, though, husband and I threw on some wigs and masks and decided to play a little trick on my parents. We showed up as a cowboy gorilla and a blonde-headed hippie. My mom (again) thought it was trouble, and they legitimately considered not opening the door until they heard my voice and realized what we were up to.
I don't celebrate Halloween with my kids, at least not the way the rest of most of America does. I do still enjoy a good prank, and we dress up for the church's non-Halloween fest. On Halloween night, there's always a movie going at our house. Plus candy. Because no one should miss out an scads of crap poison disguised as colorful treats just because their parents prefer not to join in the evil festivities. ;)