We are in the fourth week of the second quarter of school—just a couple of weeks until Thanksgiving Break, and midterm is a week away.  This year has gone by so fast, but time flies when you’re having fun!

And fun we have had … Halloween was so much fun for all the students and staff. A good portion of the school was dressed up in their costumes for the day and after school everyone went trick or treating here on campus.  I, myself, came as a rock star!  Many of the offices and all of the homes have had Halloween treats to share.  At the end of trick or treating, the Rec Center has a grand march and costume judging contest.  There are so many innovative costumes to see!  It really is fun to watch!

We are very busy here at school with our regular schedule of classes and many extracurricular activities also.  Today, we have two girls basketball games—one here at St. Joseph’s and one away.

Service Plan Meetings are being held, which are much like Teacher/Parent Conferences and are held twice per year. These include the teacher, the parent/guardian, the family service counselor, the houseparent and the student themselves.

This week we will have our Honor Roll Assemblies for first quarter.  Our prizes have arrived and they will be given out to those on the A and B Honor Roll and those with Perfect/Outstanding Attendance for first quarter.  I think the students will love what we ordered for them—notebooks and bookmarks with Native American designs. They are quite beautiful!  I also have made their certificates on award paper with Native American designs.

We have a lot to accomplish before Thanksgiving Break, which seems to be just around the corner.  It will be a good time for staff and students alike to take a little break from all the daily schoolwork and teaching to regroup and be ready to begin refreshed when we return.

Thanks for all your support to aid us in what we do for our Native American students!

But as 1010 WINS’ Gary Baumgarten reported, some kids and parents weren’t particularly enthused about it all. One little girl who dressed up as a little princess for Halloween said many stores had seemingly canceled Halloween altogether.

1010 WINS’ Gary Baumgarten reports

Download: halloween-2baumgartenw37-soc-bradolf-1.mp3|titles=New%20Jersey%20Holds%20Late%20Halloween;%20Some%20Kids%20Less%20Than%20Thrilled|artists=1010%20WINS'%20Gary%20Baumgarten%20reports

Still, some parents, such as a mother named “Cori,” took it all in stride. She was out with two kids – one dressed as a Power Ranger, the other as a ninja.

“They’ve been having a blast so it’s been fun,” she said. “I know it was a last-minute thing for us and for business owners, but there’s something really fun about it.”

For “Maria,” the delayed Halloween was a blessing, because it gave her and her four children an excuse to get out of their house – which as of Monday was still without power.

“I’m feeling all right, you know, today is trick-or-treating for the kids, and they feel so happy,” she said.

Governor Chris Christie announced last week that Halloween activities could not be held as scheduled for Wednesday – two days after Superstorm Sandy hit – for safety reasons.

Did you participate in the rescheduled Halloween? Leave a comment below…

Before I continue, let me say that thankfully, none of my loved ones was injured in the storm. One of my good friends lost her home, and others lost their cars or parts of their homes. Many of my relatives and friends lost power for several days, and some still don’t have power. Everyone back home has been enduring grueling commutes, waiting hours in line for gas, and seeing local institutions destroyed. I am still in disbelief over it all, and I’m feeling a little helpless and guilty being all the way over here in Colorado. Part of my heart is always in New York, and I wish I could be there to help both the people I love and strangers alike. But still, I feel so lucky that everyone I know is OK.

With that said, Matt and Nate really enjoyed their extra time with Grandma and Grandpa. In between talking to loved ones back home, watching storm coverage on TV, and dealing with the airlines, we managed to have a really great visit. What I loved was that it wasn’t a typical visit, in which we would do lots of tourist activities. Instead, my parents got to spend a lot of time with the boys in their usual environment and do their regular activities with them—Gymboree, Toddler Time at the library, running around at the park, going on walks, and just playing at home with their toys. They also got to spend Halloween with the boys, seeing them in their costumes and going trick-or-treating.

Halloween with Grandma and Grandpa, dressed as the Tortoise and the Hare

The greatest part of the visit for me was seeing how much the twins adore Grandma and Grandpa. Some of my relatives tell me they worry that the boys don’t know them because they don’t get to see them too often. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. My parents arrived here very late at night, when the boys were already asleep. The next morning, when Matt and Nate began to stir, my mom and dad went into their room to greet them. The twins’ reactions were priceless. Their little faces lit up and they both began to squeal in excitement. Nate reached for my dad and Matt for my mom. You would never know it had been over two months since they’d seen them.

Nate really latched on to my dad throughout the 10 days. Whenever we would ask him, “Where’s Grandpa?” he would scream, “Da-da!” and point at my dad gleefully with a huge smile on his face. My father would sing, “Here I come to save the day!”—the Mighty Mouse theme song—in a loud voice, and Nate would laugh and laugh. Consequently, Matt was especially drawn to my mom. He constantly wanted her to read to him, and he let her know in such a cute way—he’d head over to the shelf and grab a book, walk over to her, then turn around and scoot backwards with his butt sticking out and plop into her lap. (Sometimes he would miss her lap completely, which was hilarious.) He also wanted her to hold him all the time, and he’d put his head on her shoulder when she picked him up. But truly, both boys really love both of my parents, and they expressed it often—blowing lots of kisses, patting their heads, cuddling, etc.

We did manage to fit in a few special outings during the trip. On October 27, we went to the famous Emma Crawford Coffin Races & Parade in Manitou Springs. The boys loved seeing all the people in costume, and my dad got a kick out of all of the hearses and decorated coffins. The next day, we dressed the boys in their Tortoise and the Hare costumes (no explanation necessary for these costumes) and went to a Trunk or Treat at Fort Carson. The boys didn’t really know what was going on, but they sure did enjoy collecting treats in their buckets—and we enjoyed eating them. Hehe.

My mom and I also took the boys to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo one afternoon. This is a regular spot for the boys and me because we have a zoo membership. The problem, though, is that I typically take them during the week with friends and their children. Because it’s only me in charge of Matt and Nate, I usually have to keep them in their stroller to stop them from running amok. But since my mom was there this time, we got to hold them and let them really experience the zoo. They were so excited to feed and pet the giraffes and to get an up-close look at all of the animals. It was such a wonderful thing for my mom and me to watch.

Mom and Dad finally caught a flight home two days ago, and we really miss them. But we are settling back into our regular routine. Unfortunately, Aunt Terry had to cancel her visit here, and we were so disappointed—but at least we’ll get to see her when we travel to New York for two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s. And in about two weeks from now, Matt and Nat’s Aunt Pat, Uncle Ken, and Aunt Beth (my sisters-in-law and brother-in-law) and their big cousin Ashley will come here for Thanksgiving. It will be the first Thanksgiving I will host (more on that later)! Keith and I are so glad that despite the distance, the boys get to spend so much time with their family. There is nothing we value more!

So anyways… I’ll post a recap of our Halloween evening.

Yabba dabba doo!

I spoke on this last year but… honestly guys, our neighborhood is so superior to any other Halloween decorated area ever.  For real.  Kids come in from all surrounding towns and cities to trick or treat in the few blocks surrounding our home.  Walking through the streets trick or treating is reminiscent of walking through a mosh pit.  Just kids and teens EVERYWHERE.  All high on candy pushing their way to front doors of every house.  It’s overwhelming, but such a sight to see.

We had our friends come over from the Hundred Acre Woods to trick or treat with us too

After the very first house we stopped at for a trick or treat, Sadie looked into her bag and saw a lollipop that was not there 3 seconds ago.  She grabbed it out and looked at me with wild huge eyes and said, “Mama, I get candy?!”

Mind. Blown.

She couldn’t believe you could walk up to any door you saw and just say ‘trick or treat’ and they would give you a candy.  Definitely her new favorite holiday.

There were so many more insane houses that this.  People had animatronic spiders hanging from trees, someone turned their home into a walk through haunted asylum, someone had a freaking hologram interacting with trick or treaters!!  I think next year I’ll go out and photograph everything after we take Sadie trick or treating.  It’s a bit too much to do both at the same time.

So I hope ya’ll had a good Halloween.

And I’ll leave you with a word of wisdom… don’t let your kids catch Croup – it sucks!

Sawyer wanted to be a peanut, but he settled on ninja instead.

And when I offered up the costume idea of a chimney-sweeper-ninja, he went with it because

he liked the thought of being able to carry around a broom all night.

Indy put on her blazer and Sawyer practiced his craziest moves and we trickertreated all night long.

Am I the coolest 24-year-old you know?

I don’t know these kids, but Walter White and Jesse Pinkman popped up on my Facebook feed.

Actually, it was a really fun night. My mom is the best! And little kids are the cutest (after baby animals… especially otters). Halloween always provides me with the perfect dose of kid interaction and when it’s over, I’m pretty much good for another year with the exception of an occasional babysitting job.

The night also inspired some academic research Wikipedia skimming on the history of Halloween. Each “Twick or tweat!” from the adorable shivering princesses, witches, morph suits and monsters on my porch got me thinking about how weird this tradition of trick-or-treating is. Parents put their kids in costumes and send them up to strangers’ doors to fill pillow cases with sweets the kids are normally told not to eat. It’s almost as weird as setting out milk and cookies for the obese man who plops out of your chimney and knows everything about you. (I realized the truth about these stories at a very young age… Too many questions for my parents.)

We always hear about Christmas’ real life Saint Nicholas, but did you know that Halloween is a holiday sprung from the old sod!? That’s right! My ancestors — those stew-brewing, pint-tipping, potato-growing Irishmen and women — started Halloween. It’s true. Wikipedia says so. Apparently, Halloween has both Christian and pagan roots that stem mostly from the warding off of harmful souls by wearing disguises. It comes right around the Christian holy days of All Saints’ and All Souls’, as well as the Celtic festivals Samhain and Calan Gaeaf. So how did this turn into kids dressing up as Angry Birds and college girls, as any and all things sexy/slutty?

No dirty dishrag in this barnbrack = a good 2013

Wearing costumes began as a way for people to disguise themselves from harmful spirits said to be gathering during the aforementioned days, and trick-or-treating emerged as a way to collect food donations for the spirits. Eventually it all tied together into a festive bundle that includes harvest festivals, pumpkin carving, apple bobbing, and eating barnbrack. If for some reason you’ve never heard of barnbrack, it’s a fruitcake that can supposedly foretell the eater’s future based on the prize found inside. A ring means marriage, a piece of straw means a prosperous year, a cloth (?) means a poor year, and other things that can choke you imply different exciting/ominous futures. As a professional lifeguard, I suggest eating this around someone who knows the Heimlich.

The things people will do for a $2 burrito!

Speaking of food, my Halloween night ended with a trip to one of my favorite places in the world: Chipotle. That claim is no exaggeration. You might think you like Chipotle, but until your friends start bringing it to you at the airport when they pick you up, I have you beat. So, when I heard that Chipotle was selling $2 burritos to anyone in a Halloween costume on October 31st, I planned my week accordingly.

Chipotle didn’t just do this to get a lot of #boorito tweets. They donated up to $1million of the proceeds to The Chipotle Cultivate Foundation, their non-profit organization “committed to creating a more sustainable and healthful food supply and to raising awareness concerning food issues.” I dig the cause — and the Burrito costume at the end of the below video — and the whole thing just makes me love/crave Chipotle even more. I’m hoping the $2 boorito deal sticks as a new Halloween tradition.

And one day the little pumpkin’s momma told her to go out and find some magic. So she set out on a journey, not knowing exactly what she was looking for…

Along the way she stumbled upon a cute little cheetah who was out in search of some magic of his own. “Wanna come with me?” she asked the cheetah. “You betcha! Wait, wha-wha-what’s that up in the sky???” he screeched.

And when she looked up, she couldn’t believe her eyes…

Flying above her was super girl in search of her own magic, swooping and swirling in the clouds with her cape floating in the wind behind her. She spotted the pumpkin and the cheetah and came down to meet them.

And the three of them declared they would be the bestest of friends and they decided to stick together because a pumpkin, a cheetah, and a super girl would surely be able to find magic together, they thought. Super girl clearly had some doubts about the cute little cheetah but pumpkin put her mind at ease. “He’s cool,” she said.

They stayed close and protected each other from the scary ghosts and goblins they passed as they ventured further and further from home. “I’ll keep you safe,” said the cheetah, “psssst, grab me a peanut butter cup, would ya?”…

And as they explored the land, people ooohed and ahhhhed at how cute they were and they bestowed upon them wonderful gifts like tarts that were sweet and heads like lemons and bears that were gummy.

And they giggled and squealed in delight while holding hands, skipping through the grass and collecting as many things as their little containers could hold.

And after a long journey around the neighborhood world, their mommas told them it was time to go home.

And so the pumpkin, the cheetah and the super hero walked hand in hand, dropping the pumpkin off at her pumpkin patch, the cheetah off at the jungle, and the super hero off to wherever it is that super heroes live.

That night the cute little pumpkin told all of the other pumpkins in the patch how she knocked on people’s doors and ended up with a bucket full of sugary gifts, though she realized that making fantastic memories with her friends was where the magic was all along.

She was one happy pumpkin.

Katniss (right), in the company of Minecraft Steve and the Walking Dead

I used to be one of those Grinches…a little. If a trick-or-treater dared to show up at my door before dark, or begged for candy without wearing a requisite costume, I would brew up a concoction of spite and fury that would intimidate a witch. “Don’t they know the RULES?!” Grinch Curtis would spit. “You can’t trick-or-treat when it’s clearly daytime. You have to dress up. If you’re old enough to drive a car then you’re too old to be begging for sweets!” With her ire provoked, Grinch Curtis would slam her self-assembled Halloween rule book.A funny thing happens when your oldest goes to middle school, however, and the end to the giddy mayhem darkly appears just around the corner. Grinch Curtis softened over the past couple of years. She decided to get in the spirit and turn a blind eye to those blatant rule violators. After all, if teenagers can brave the challenging weather conditions and intrepidly knock on doors for the payoff of a nutty PayDay, Grinch Curtis should just stuff it.

The outdoor conditions for candy acquisition are usually…well…northwestern. Rain, wind, chill are the norm. But we got lucky this year. No black cats walked in front of Halloween 2012. My boys did not suffer dissolved cardboard costumes, nor did they have to add bulky warm layers underneath, turning Flash into Flabby, or a scary skeleton into a double-stuffed Oreo. The rain held back and the wind abated. It was a perfect night.

Let’s return to feeling sorry for Grinches, grouches and agoraphobics. In order to fully embrace Halloween in the Highlands you have to arm yourself with a minimum $40-cornucopia of solidified corn syrup. Next, you have to comfortably position yourself near your front door instead of back in the kitchen; otherwise you will find yourself walking a half-marathon by the end of the night. The doorbell rings persistently in two-minute intervals from 6:00pm to 8:30pm. You will probably run out of candy. One neighbor in AshlandPark sent her teenaged daughter out on an emergency trick-or-treat run so they could replenish their dwindling supply. I can just hear it, “Honey, we’re down to the last three KitKats! Quick, go out there and get us some more candy!”

Back to acknowledging those who prefer to dwell less socially. The sheer giddiness at your doorstep could clog a drain. If you dare answer the door, you will be bombarded with chiming voices chanting their three-syllable cause. Then upon receipt of their Hershey product they will sing-song a heart melting “thank you”. That perfunctory response is sort of to be expected from the little ones whose parents are hovering nearby ready to prompt any forgotten manners. However, what will floor the Grinch are the “thank yous” and “Happy Halloweens” coming from un-chaperoned sweets scroungers. It’s one thing to have mom prod her pirate to show appreciation at every door, but it’s flabbergasting to hear it spontaneously from the older kids.

Where do those manners come from? During Issaquah High School’s PTSA meeting in September, Principal Paula Phelps included some anecdotes in her state-of-the-school address. She shared that Issaquah High has a uniquely empathetic and gracious student body. This opinion has come over the last few years from objective outsiders who have offered their compliments to Principal Phelps. A district maintenance contract worker commented that a couple students noticed him approaching the doors with his ladder and hustled to hold the door open for him while he passed through. They even had the gall to tell him to have a nice day!

A similarly favorable impression about the teenaged student body came from a substitute teacher who found that filling in for absent teachers across the district had become a very difficult and frustrating endeavor – with the exception of IssaquahHigh School.  She would happily answer the call to sub for any class at IHS, “because the students there are just different; they’re good kids.” If the Halloween Grinch opens the door to costumed characters of this ilk, he’s sure to writhe in skepticism.

Before this starts to sound like I’m portraying the population in The Stepford Wives, let me clarify. Don’t think for a second that you can leave a bowl of candy out on your doorstep and expect it to be delicately and slowly emptied. In the absence of a homeowner and the presence of sugar, Princess Barbie transforms into Rabid Thief Blackbeard. In the matter of minutes your bowl filled with Twix will vanish, and so will your bowl.

Overall, Halloween night in the Issaquah Highlands has advantages that could placate a grouch and soften the hardest-of-hearts. You’ll get a workout from carving decorative pumpkins and opening the door one hundred times in a night. But the payoff in the form of jubilant jesters and zesty zombies is priceless.

It was a misty, drizzly morning after two days of intense winds and rain from hurricane Sandy, when I joined all my daycare friends at the veterinary hospital. There was a buzz in the daycare room among us pups that there would be photos today and something called costumes.

Mom had been up a good part of last night sewing something for me. She tried it on my head before I went to bed, I was pretty sleepy so I couldn’t really figure out what it was. When morning came, she came out of the bathroom with her own crazy hair-do and colorful birds and butterflys on her head. When I told the daycare pups about it, they all were very curious. Some, like me had never experienced this holiday called Halloween.  Others like Suki are old pros and have been through this before. Suki is sometimes afraid of her own shadow, though she is very protective of me and won’t let anyone bug me in the play area. Even though costumes aren’t her thing, she told me that she dressed as a skeleton and that Michelle and my Mom were really nice to her when she posed for the photos.

Later, Faith arrived dressed as an angel. She looked absolutely beautiful, all sparkly and silvery in the florescent lighting of the back hallway as she walked past us outside of the play area.

Soon it would be my turn. Mom came to find me. Everyone kept calling her Cindie Lou and there was something about a Who and apparently I was Max. There were songs about something called a Grinch and discussion about a cartoon.

After a quick “Dr. Seuss” photo shoot with Mom, I changed into my Sheriff Indy costume. I wore my costume trick or treating too and kept everyone safe on the sidewalks and roadways of downtown.

It didn’t take me long to get into the trick or treating thing. We did a lot of walking (which I love) and Sarah would go up or down the driveways and Mom and I would patiently wait for her. Each time Sarah came back down the driveway she had a big smile on her face. I love to see Sarah smile.  She and Mom know where to get the good candy, the “whole” candy bars, whatever that means. Something about the benefit of living in a small town where the houses are far apart.

Mom, Sarah and I ended the evening at the home of some family friends. They have a beautiful little dachsund mix named Betty. Betty is just my type. We hit it off pretty good. She tried to play hard to get but I know that she was interested, just not feeling up to intracting with other pups that night.  She is learning the ropes of being in a loving home and is the sweetest girl you could ever meet. And from the looks of Mrs. U, her new Mom, she couldn’t be more loved.  She had been in a shelter down South for a long time and is adjusting to this New England weather and life style.

Though I could not enjoy candy with everyone else, Mr. U., the host of the party, gave me a really yummy milkbone.  Sarah’s friend arrived with her dog Rudy.  He is their new dog they adopted from a shelter.  He is a great dog and told me about shelters and how lucky he was to be adopted by them and how wonderful his family treat him.

After mom talked Mrs. Collette’s ear off (she is so super nice and we hung out with her most of the party), and Sarah played with her friends, it was time to go. We visited more with Mrs. U. and Mrs. Weiderman.  Mom told me that she was very proud of me. That the costumes on the kids didn’t freak me out and that I did a great job not peeing or pooping on the the host’s floor.  She was really blown away when I came to her two times to let her know I had to “go”.  In fact many of the party goers also seemed quite impressed.

I guess this Halloween thing is a big holiday in our house.  I can’t wait for next year.  Now it is time to get ready for one more hike before hiking season ends.  I can’t wait!

~ Indy

“If human beings had genuine courage, they would wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween.” – Doug Coupland

And as you all know, Daphne is what? Daphne is picture happy. So in a series of photos, here’s how my Halloween night went.

I sharpied a pumpkin. Mwahahahaha!

This is the back. But moving on.

Lucky was for all intents and purposes… well, I don’t actually know. But  he’s adorable so that flies.

Dylan was Thor. And got caught dancing in the street before we left.

Holly was a panda. Don’t let her sweet looking face fool you. She’ll go all horror movie on you when you least expect it!

Mom was a pirate and she looked awesome!

She’s also apparently an exorcist. Who knew, right?

(Proof that Holly needed that exorcism.)

I was also a pirate. And this is the only photo anyone got of me in which I wasn’t giggling like a dork. It also just so happens to be the only photo which I will show anyone. The rest made me cringe (and not in the good scary, Halloween way).

In fact, if all my Halloween pictures would have accidentally cut off my head, I would have been thrilled!

Also, you’ll notice how tall I looked. It was all a lie! But it was fun to feel tall for a few hours.

While my boots gave me the ability to not look “vertically challenged” aka short, Dylan’s costume allowed him to fly.

He was also moving so quickly that things got a little blurry. And funny.

I think it was just Holly’s demonic side popping out for the night that allowed her to fly.

I really have no idea what they were doing  here. Any ideas?

Once we returned home…

Lucky had to check my candy to make sure it was safe.

Repeatedly.

And then he stole a sucker so I had to let him have it anyway.

I’m sure it was shear torture.

This is all I was left with. Oh, and slobbery fingers.

I did attempt taking a picture of dinner, both mine and Lucky’s. But as you can see that didn’t turn out so well. It did end up showing the shirt I wore all day though. I thought it was appropriate. It says “Little Miss Sweet Tooth”.

OH, and I had the perfect case of red eye later. Although I don’t know where my upper lip went. It seems to be missing. Which deeply disturbs me.

__________________________

TO DRESS UP OR NOT TO DRESS UP

Now, I was listening to the radio somewhere and heard of a poll on Facebook asking how old is too old to dress up for Halloween.

Someone was shocked that they’d gotten a Trick-Or-Treater at their door that looked 20 years old! Do you believe that? Horrible.

I think its awesome to see all ages dressed up for Halloween and walking around. What about you?

How old do you think is “too old” to go trick-or-treating?

Do you go trick-or-treating?

My mum, she’s over twenty (twenty-four and holding people) – she’s never missed a year. I’m going to be 21 this month and I’ve never missed a year either.

Always dressed up for Halloween and always gone trick-or-treating.

ITS FREE CHOCOLATE. People, how much more of a reason do you need? Not to mention its fun. If you can’t tell, I love dressing up for Halloween. Can you guess what my favorite costume is?

This is Lucky on Halloween night, and he approves dressing up for Halloween at any age. (And suckers.)

Every Halloween my Aunt and Uncle have a party at their house; we eat, the kids go trick-or-treating and we all have lots of fun.

Here are some of the costumes we had this year:

Mega Man and a puppy.

Three puppies, cute!

Red riding hood and the huntsman. 

Since I was going to be red riding hood (I had a basket and everything!) I decided I should fill the basket with some treats for everyone.  I made some plain sugar cookies then took white frosting and died it orange (for Halloween of course). Then I put the frosting in a ziploc bag and poked a small hole in one of the corners so that I could make fun swirly designs on the cookies. For the finishing touch I sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top. 

As an extra treat, we had Oma (their German Grandmother) stay with us during this period and so quite rightly, she doted on the kids which gave the wife and I a much welcomed break too.  Because of this, we actually managed to go out as a couple for a change, okay, so it was only to the cinema to see the latest Bond movie – Skyfall – which was amazing I may add, but we had a precious couple of hours away all to ourselves.  Bliss.

Speaking of cinemas, we took Mana to the cinema for the first time the other day.  We’ve been promising her this for quite a while now, but up until this point, we’ve felt that she wasn’t quite old enough to endure sitting still for the duration, but now she’s at an age where we were sure she’d be able to cope and so off we went to see Hotel Transylvania.

Our first attempt failed and was a bit of a non starter because having paid, we walked into the theatre and saw that there were only a handful of seats left – and none of them were next to each other.  We couldn’t sit apart and so we explained the situation to the manager and he changed our tickets for the next showing.  As we left, Mana began to cry as she didn’t realise that we were still going to see the film, only later, all she could see was us leaving the cinema building.  Thankfully she got over it and when we returned, she really enjoyed watching the film – even if she was sat on my lap for the first third of it… and boy did all my appendages go numb as a result of this!

So what else have we been up to then?  Well, in no particular order, this:

The kids went to a Halloween party and got the chance to dress up, play games and carve themselves a pumpkin.  Weirdly, I’ve noticed a rapid decline in celebrating Halloween in this country over the last few years.  When we first moved to the area back in 2005, we had loads of kids knocking on our door, all dressed up and asking for sweets, but in the last year or two, this has dwindled to almost no-one.

This year our kids got to go on their first outing to partake in the art of trick or treating.  Okay, so it was only to the neighbours’ houses, but in all honesty, it was a bit of a washout as it absolutely hammered it down with rain, but at least they got to enjoy themselves with the experience – even if they did return just a little bit more than rather damp.

Above is a shot of another first; Mana’s first attempt at carving a pumpkin at the previously mentioned Halloween party.  Of course she didn’t do it all on her own as Mummy was there to handle the more dangerous aspects such as the actual carving with various sharp knives and wotnot.

And as part of what has now become a family tradition, I carved one too for the house.  A very simple design, mainly because I couldn’t do anything more intricate with the murderous butcher’s knife that I had to use.  Meh, not too bad.

On a related issue, do you know, I had a rather amusing conversation with a friend’s wife about Trick or Treating the other day.  It went something a little like this.

Friend’s Wife:  I’m going to buy the kid’s a simple little magic set later, so they can do the whole trick or treating thing properly.
Me:  Eh, what do you mean?
Friend’s Wife:  You know, when they go to someone’s house, they can do a little magic trick in return for their treat.
Me:  Um.  I’m not entirely sure that you have this whole trick or treating thing nailed down quite right.
Friend’s Wife: (perplexed)  How so?
Me:  Well, you know… When you go to someone’s house, if they don’t give you a treat, then you can play a trick on them – like throwing eggs at their front door or decorate their roof with toilet paper.  That sort of thing.  The trick isn’t a magic trick, but a sort of payback trick.  Effectively a bribe.
Friend’s Wife: (slightly embarrassed)  Really?!
Friend:  Yes!  And you’ve even lived in the States – you should know this!

Much chortling ensued by all.

Completely and utterly unrelated to the above, we were visited my mate Dematerialiser, his wife and their kids the other day as they were down in our neck of the woods for a birthday trip to a theme park that’s close by.  Out of the blue, Dematerialiser presented me with this very generous gift…

…Two framed autographed photographs of Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor and I absolutely adore it!

He’s been downsizing recently after their house move and he realised that he no-longer had room for this particular piece – so thought of me.  How extremely thoughtful and it really does tie in with the idea of me trying to refine what I’d like to have; a small collection of things that reflect my childhood – and Tom Baker was a huge part of that as you may recall.

Anyhow, I’m over the moon with this, so a massive thank you is pointed in his direction.  I really do appreciate it.

And finally.

Yesterday I asked Mana what her favourite part of the holiday was.  Was it her trip to the cinema, the Halloween party, having Oma come to visit, the Trick or Treating or going to the adventure playground?  No, it was none of that, her favourite thing was going with Daddy to “Anarchy” – the model and prop making workshop where I was there to sort out some prop stuff and potential future work.

Hmm.  If that’s all that takes to make her happy, there’s plenty of prop building places that I can take her to in the future!  Trips abroad to expensive holiday resorts?  Nah, down the M25 motorway to a workshop.  Sorted.

Apparently the very thought of Halloween is over 2,000 years old. It goes back to the Celts when they used to celebrate the new year on November 1st. It marked the last day of summer and what they called the first day of darkness. The Celts believed that the night before the new year the ghosts of the dead returned to earth to cause trouble and damage crops. This became known as the Festival of Samhain. The Celts also believed that during this time the presence of otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids or Celtic Priests to make predictions about the future. The Druids would build sacred bonfires and the Celts wore costumes.
After the Roman Empire conquered Celtic territory, many of the Roman traditions began to meld with the Celtic ones. The Romans had two festivals at the end of October. One to commemorate the passing of the dead, the other to honor the Roman goddess, Pomona, of fruit and trees. Her symbol is the apple. And so bobbing for apples was born.

By 609 AD Pope Boniface IV dedicated May 13 as all Christian Martyrs Day. It wasn’t until Pope Gregory III that this day became known as All Saints Day and was moved to being celebrated on November 1st. By 1000 AD November 2nd was declared All Souls Day and was celebrated in much the same way as the Celtic Festival of Samhain. All Saints Day was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas and the night before, the traditional Celtic Festival of Samhain became known as All-hallows Eve.

When Halloween first started in the colonies, it wasn’t very popular outside of Maryland. Their celebrations included “play parties,” public events, sharing stories of the dead, telling each other’s fortunes, and dancing and singing. What we call Halloween now didn’t come into existence until the holiday hit America and spread like wide-fire with the immigrants of the mid 19th century. By the 20’s and 30’s Halloween became the secular holiday we all now know and love. Trick or Treating slowly became more and popular between the 20’s and 50’s. Not only did families use this as a way to build relationships within their community but they also used it as a way to avoid having tricks played on them. It would soon be known as the American tradition added to the old Celtic Festival of Samhain.

Now my wife in contrast loves Halloween. The whole concept of dressing up and going about the town is something she looks forward to every year. She has great memories of trick or treating and Halloween parties as a child. I understand that she, like most, embarrasses this yearly event and therefore wants to impart the experience to our kids. Like any good mother she wants her children to share in a tradition that was special to her as a child (and is still special to her today).

This is where being married with children adds a whole new element to my life and my relationship with my family. One of the things I love the most about my wife (and I recognized and admired this about her ever since we first met) is her gift of  making things and events special without having to obsess or labor at it. She is able to create a special occasion with little resources and without making everyone around her sacrifice for it to turnout. Even as I write this I realize that I can’t even properly describe what she does because I don’t quite know how she does it I just know and love how it all comes together.

So when it comes to Halloween, and this Halloween in particular, before I knew it my wife had both my kids super excited about celebrating Halloween. She was able to put together special costumes for the three of them and organize a special day of activities culminating in the traditional trick or treating around the neighborhood. For me what made this Halloween so special is that I was able to see the joy on my kid’s (and wife’s) faces as they celebrated and not only that but without any discussion there was no expectation put on me. Now I would have gladly entered in the celebration if needed in order to make the experience complete. However what I realized is that knowing I did not care for the whole Halloween thing, my wife simply created a fun and special day for the kids that was a bonding time between the girls (particularly our oldest, 3 year old).

Now I want to be clear, I know that it won’t be like this every year. Each year will be different as the kids get older, but I was so blessed by how my wife handled the whole thing. She accomplished her goal of starting a fun and memorable tradition while at the same time allowing me to share in the experience as a father in my own way send thus making this a very special Halloween for our whole family.

We’re new to our neighborhood so we weren’t sure if or where the action would be so we headed to the shopping center, then to a church to meet Jake’s pal River. It was a grand time. Jake was Spiderman and Wes was Woody. They got a good stash, then got to play games and ride a horse and a donkey at the church. Home for bed and all was good.

I wish.

Jake still had his cough and wasn’t feeling well. He’s still having sleeping issues, namely that he cannot sleep in his own bed the whole night. On this night he arrived in our bed just as I turned out the light. He was coughing and kept pushing me further and further toward the edge of the bed, so I decided to play a little reverse psychology and go to his bed to sleep. It worked until he woke and realized I wasn’t there. He came looking for me and started getting upset that he couldn’t find me. I was short on temper and I regret scolding him the way I did because he wasn’t feeling well, but I told him that he was too old to sleep in our bed, our bed is too small etc., etc. His retorts were hilarious. First he said what he always says: our bed is more comfortable. Then he said that his feet get too warm in his bed. Then he said that he could keep his feet cool in our bed. Yup. I, too, have no idea what he was talking about. Apparently we have a “cool feet” bed. Nice.

halloweenies

SOTD: Brendan Benson: Cold Hands Warm Heart