OUR GASTLY ECONOMY ISN'T CHANGING HALLOWEEN
Published On 10-26-2008 , 8:09 AM
WHO said the economy was in a bad way? Aren't we being told families are having it hard because of, among other things, high prices at the gas pump and continually rising food cost?
Back when prices at the Arco Station that I frequent edged beyond the dollar mark my budget allowed, I changed my driving habits by combining trips and by using public transportation. No one needed to tell me the economy was in a bad way. Grocery purchases for my household are now dictated by what store has what on special. Donuts, chips, cookies, ice cream and other goodies no longer make it into our shopping cart. Only the essentials make it to my food cupboard, refrigerator and freezer.
I believe the headlines because they speak quite loudly to me wherever I go. I believe the gloomy projections the big boys continually tout on television, the Internet and in the newspaper. But I was at the yardage store the other day and what a surprise I had. Then I went to the craft store and came to think the economy wasn't quite what the headlines and my circumstances have lead me to believe.
"She wants to be a mermaid this year," said the young blond mother standing at the cutting table as she smiled while discussing the Halloween costume she was making for her daughter.
"And do you make one every year?" I inquired. Yes, a new costume for every year because each year the child's new teacher had a different theme. And then, of course, what youngster would want to be the "same"
year after year. Of course, children outgrow last year's everything.
By the time the young mom had the yardage cut and had gathered up matching thread, zipper, elastic, some other notions, flashy trim and the pattern she'd racked up a bill of $43. Ms. Mom whipped out her credit card and the deal was done. Well, sort of. Didn't look to me like her household was making any drastic changes. But who am I to say? Maybe being a mermaid for Halloween was far down on the list of what to cut.
But it was the craft store that set me on my heels. There I found millions of shoppers with carts filled with millions of everything that comes in Halloween colors of orange, yellow, brown and red.
Carts were filled to the brim with pumpkins, fake leaves and stems, tablecloths, cups, napkins. huge black spiders, webs, haunted houses, ghosts, witches and, well, you get the picture.
Apparently I had misjudged the nation's suffering. On my drive back home, I noticed Halloween in front yards on just about every residential block. Fake bats were swinging from trees. Cemetery scenes were created on front lawns and some complete with corpses lounging nearby.
Uh, why was I at the yardage store? Am I making a costume for my teenage Brandi? I guess I owe an explanation for the craft store excursion, also.
Hard times hit each of us in different ways. Some relish in revelry - costumes and yard decorations. Others, like myself, decide to bring back skills from long ago that will create avenues of additional revenue. Yup, I'm back at my Singer sewing machine and the craft table in our back bedroom is now full of supplies. Hard times? Where I came from things were always this way. Let's not forget the past and how we made it through.
If mermaid costumes, ghost, goblins, tombstones and bats in trees help some of us bear the financial crisis, then so be it. Have a happy Halloween, even if it means wearing this year’s popular Sarah Palin mask.
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