photo by Hannah Reel

Dale Steckler helps granddaughter Catherine Bryson, 3, of Jackson, put on her fairy costume while getting ready to go trick or treating Saturday night.

Family shares a fun Halloween

By Emily Ham (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Monday, November 2, 2009

NATCHEZ — Old, mossy tombstones in a front yard aren’t the norm for many homes around Natchez, but for the Steckler family, it’s a tradition for a few nights out of the year.

And on Halloween night, The Dart not only found several tombstones in the front yard of the family’s Mansfield Drive home, but also two transformers and a fairy princess.

Jacob, 9, P.J., 5, and Catherine Bryson, 3, of Jackson, were preparing for a night of tricks and treats with their grandmother, Dale Steckler, their two uncles, Jared and Wesley Steckler and their aunt, Suzanne Steckler.

The Jackson trio had spent the previous day helping decorate their grandmother’s yard for the upcoming day of festivities, but little did they know they were learning about and continuing a tradition.

“This is Suzanne’s holiday,” Dale Steckler said. “But because of the rain, we didn’t get to (decorate the yard early this year.)”

“It’s fun — it’s not about ghoulish, scary stuff as much as it is for the fun,” Suzanne said.

Dale said many fond memories of her family were being shared with the newest generation of grandchildren as they helped decorate the yard and prepared to don their trick or treating armor.

“We were showing them pictures of the family when they were kids, and it wasn’t even a prepared thing. They were always scrounging about to find something,” Dale said.

As the kids pulled out their costumes to get ready for their big night, Suzanne said she remembered what her trick or treat days were like.

According to Suzanne and pages upon pages of accompanying family candids, a collection of hunters, swimmers and Charlie Chaplin-ish characters were the result of Steckler children’s imaginations.

“It didn’t matter what we wore, it was always about the candy,” Suzanne said.

“Our neighborhood has always been a neighborhood for trick or treaters,” she said. “When we were growing up as kids in the 1970s, it was rare if a house didn’t have a child in it whether it be a young child or a teenager. It’s really exciting to see kids back in the community.”

Suzanne’s excitement for a new generation of children experiencing the fun of Halloween is what led to the activities her niece and nephews helped with on Friday and Saturday.

“The tombstone thing out there started when my sister, who has since passed away, saw some (decorative tombstones) in a magazine,” Suzanne said.

Suzanne said as children she and her sister collected cardboard boxes to decorate with spray paint and stenciled ivy.

However, the ones she and her niece and nephews put up were store bought and a bit more durable.

But the spirit of Halloween didn’t just stop at their grandmother’s front door.

Before the kids turned into their robot and fairy alter egos, they had not only decorated a graveyard scene, but also been given “hand” sandwiches, hotdog mummies and blood, lips and eyeball Jello.

By Saturday afternoon, the kids, two of whom were recovering from an afternoon nap, were ready to collect their sugary loot before having to return to a real world where fairies and talking vehicular robots won’t exist for another 365 days.