Thursday, October 31, 2013

The Anticipation of Halloween

You may already know about me that I'm mixed about the celebration of halloween.  Actually, to say that I'm mixed is a change, because for many years I didn't like halloween at all...I've been a mostly-not-outspoken stick-in-the-mud about it.  I'm just not a huge fan of celebrating the darker side of life, and it seems to me that halloween is increasingly a show of things that make me uncomfortable - like the neighbourhood kid hoping for a handful of my candy despite being dressed as a murdered person with a knife coming out of his chest and blood dripping down his chest; or the score of children sporting ghoulish masks of screaming otherworldly creatures.  Shudder...I don't like this part of halloween.

The part that I'm ok with, of course, is the excitement of my kids.  They will be dressing up and are super charged about trick-or-treating tonight; it's been a good lesson for Seth and Lizzie in counting backwards because they've been counting down the days for eleven or twelve days!  Seth's first words this morning were "Mommy, it's today...halloween is todayyyy!!!!"  The three of them have been decorating pumpkins and cookies, and have gilded the house with paper garlands that look like they have nothing whatsoever to do with halloween but which have, nonetheless, been fun to make.

Another thing that has me feeling a little lighter about this year's halloween is the costume party that we attended on the weekend...my first in many years (and the kids' first ever).  If sitting around and visiting with friends while nibbling on treats and watching a dozen or more beautifully-clad kids play and laugh and pin the mask on batman is what halloween is supposed to be about, well, then, count me in for that.  That was a delightful way to spend a few halloween-related hours!

Come this evening, I know I'll enjoy my kids' faces when they shriek their first 'trick or treat' at the house next door, and later dump their pillowcases of loot out onto the table and hear me say that they can go to town and stuff themselves with as much candy as they want to for just this one night.  Geoff and I will brush their teeth at least twice before bed and will collapse at day's end smiling because our Mad Scientist, Power Ranger, and Pirate Girl have had a good day, and I'll say they were all adorable...and it will all be true!

So, mixed as I am in sentiment about the celebration of halloween, today should be a fine day in this household, and I hope it is in yours as well!


2 comments:

  1. I second your thoughts on Halloween. Mixed feelings here too, but it's become a happy little tradition in our home. Thanks to our fabulous neighbourhood, Halloween night is a night to hang out with our neighbours, meeting up with them and chatting on the street. Garth made Matthew's "strong-bot" costume with him the other day, nearly completely designed by Matthew himself. And, to top it all off, a few of our friends here had made extra-special treats just for our kids. It's turning out to be a fabulous community-building evening in our lives. Glad you had a fun day!!

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  2. Thanks Leanne - and what a lovely tradition you are developing in your neighbourhood - that sounds awesome!!

    Ruth

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