Small town innocence.

I had a dental appointment today, and the girls who work there were talking about their Halloween costumes.  If Halloween falls on a week-day when the dental office is open, then everyone comes dressed up in costume, including the dentists.

They celebrate a 'happy' Halloween, not a gruesome one, because on any given day, they have school-age patients... and I would imagine that going to the dentist is not up there on a kid's hit parade, and having a dentist dressed up as Dracula just wouldn't be right if you're 9 years old and sitting in that chair.

One of the office girls is dressing up as Mother Goose, complete with a stuffed goose to hold in her arms all day long..... another one is dressing as a 1920s Flapper and she's still searching for an extra-long cigarette holder.

When we lived in Clear Lake, I would see so many costumed-people driving in their cars on Halloween, on their way to work in the morning.... everything from the most happiest of costumes (like Disney characters) to more gory ghouls dripping with fake blood and seemingly real scars.  Most Texans take Halloween very seriously, and the front yard décor on October 31 is second only to the Christmas decorations that go up in December.

And living out here is no different.  The thrift stores and consignment shops always have racks of Halloween possibilities for costumes.  No need to really spend a small fortune on a costume from one of those Halloween Express stores that take over an empty storefront on Labor Day and then are all moved out two days after Halloween is over. All you need is one good idea with a spook-tacular piece of clothing, and your imagination takes over and with the right accessories, a simple long black skirt becomes part of a witch's ensemble.

My guess is that on the day of Halloween, just about everyone in this town will be in some sort of get-up for the holiday.  The girls at the dental office told me to drop in on Halloween so they can see my costume.  I don't know if I'll dress up again on the actual day of Halloween... this far out in the country, we don't get trick-or-treaters.   I told the technician that we were having a Halloween party this weekend, so they asked about costume ideas.  They usually go with Disney stars or Mother Goose characters, just to be on the safe side with the very young patients, but they're always open to new ideas for other parties.

Say what you want about small towns...... we may not have SteinMart and Macys here, but we surely do have a lot of heart.