Another Halloween done. I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Halloween (and actually maybe all holidays, come to think of it). In some ways I hate it because I keep thinking that I should be doing more...making better costumes, decorating my house more creatively, etc., and then I just never do. Basically, my only decorations are two plain black, simple wooden cats that I painted at some craft night in college (about the extent of my crafting ability), and a tin jack-o-lantern bucket that a neighbor in Berkeley gave me. Oh, yeah, and last year I picked up a "Happy Halloween" sign on clearance for $1 from World Market that I strung up across our doorway--so I'm improving, I guess.
And when it comes to costumes, my basic MO is: what can I talk my kids into that can come from either a hand-me-down in the dress-up box or something that I can pilfer off a neighbor with much more creativity. It doesn't exactly help that Max absolutely hates dressing up. Really hates it. I am really not exaggerating this, and it's been this way for his entire life. Have you known a child that refused to even wear a fireman's helmet or Superman cape? But Max will always refuse. This year he told me that he wanted to dress up just as a regular person. I told him: that costume=no candy. So this year Adam came up with a costume idea for him that was as close to that as we could get.
But back to me.....I always want to do more and keep thinking that it would be so much more fun if I did, but I just never do. This is approximately how it goes down for every holiday. Good intentions never realized. (Hey, remember that one for my tombstone someday!)
However, Halloween is awesome!--at least in our neighborhood. We don't get too many knocks at our door itself because we're on a dead end that's kind-of off of the main drag, but the more main streets are like a parade. Plenty of kids out in costume. The houses are decorated, and some with live "scare shows" on the lawn. Some neighbors havelittle bonfires at the top of their driveway and are passing out hot dogs, hot chocolate and hot cider. The adults are strolling the streets with drinks (and pulling coolers with more drinks). And every year, one of the families has hosted a pre-trick-or-treating pizza party as a neighborhood get together. Gee, I just love the suburbs!
So anyway, this year the guys were:
Max as Johnny Appleseed
Olivia as a "nice witch"
and Isabel baring her claws as a lion (in the obligatory costume that both the older guys wore when they were two...poor girl--her mom has no creativity).
Isabel really figured out what was going on this year. While Adam took the bigger kids around the whole neighborhood, I took her to only the nearby houses and she had no problem ringing doorbells, saying trick-or-treat, and then taking two or three pieces of candy when offered. Thank goodness for that too, because I'm counting on her stash for future raiding.
4 comments:
Oh boy, could I ever relate to EVERYTHING you were saying about holidays in general and Halloween in particular. Seriously. Why is it so hard to gussy the house up for Halloween? And why do costumes stress me out?
You should see Challey's house.... so cute and festive. Challey, help us, please.
And by the way, I still have those (dare I say lame) black cats too, which is about the sum total of my decorations. Oh my goodness...and as for the candy raiding....we are certainly on the same wave length.
Okay, so I have made some FABULOUS Halloween costumes in my day, and at first it was fun but then when the kids started having opinions about their costumes AND had somehow gotten the idea that I would make whatever they chose, it was less fun, but I still did it, grudgingly but with love (if that's possible.) This year was the first year EVERYONE had a good hand-me down to wear, and I didn't sew anything -- hooray! And also, I never had decorations except for a couple (adorable but small) ones made by Mabel, but then about three years ago I bought a cute string of lights (they look like little lanterns with cobwebs) and a black wreath-like thing and a little skeleton thingy, and I am planning to make those work for the rest of my life, I hope. Well, and with my no-costume sewing energy this year I did make some decorations for the ward party with vintage Halloween graphics I got from my mom (but haven't had the will to blog about them. They're just reproductions of vintage postcards, laminated. But I did two of each and glued them back-to-back so they'd be double-sided, trimmed them, laminated, and trimmed again, and I made 44, so for something that looks simple it was actually a very time-consuming project. Sometimes I think I am bad at choosing bang-for-the-buck projects.)
That super-long preamble is supposed to lead to TOTALLY agreeing with you, though: almost ever since being a mom, I have had VERY mixed feelings about holidays. As much as I want them to be fun for my kids, as much as I remember loving them before I was responsible to make them happen, I now always have some hint of resentment at how they seem to use up any creative energy I *might* have had for my own non-holiday creative projects. And there are SO many; all the regular holidays plus all the birthdays. I sometimes wish I could just throw myself into holidays and love it like some women do, but there's just always that glimmer of resentment in the back of my mind.
(This year I was even wondering if it's a contradiction in terms to be a Halloween Scrooge.)
(And now that I've written such a long comment, I think I'll make it double my mileage, and re-post it at my blog, too.)
Okay. Seriously, thanks girls. Like I told Anna, I ordered my kids costumes ONE WEEK before Halloween. We were just crossing our fingers that they would get here in time. I am so sad that you guys weren't here to party. It turned out great and was a lot of fun. As far as decor? I just sort of like decorating for holidays. I grew up that way. No one should be apologizing for anything. You are both FABULOUS!
I could have sworn that I already left a comment on here! Hmmmm
Anyway - your kids look great! Cute costumes and your neighborhood sounds fabulous! So fun! I used to struggle with holidays and such and in ways I still do. But I try to just accept what I can do and call it good (and try my hardest not to compare myself to others even though I still do!). If the kids are somewhat satisfied - then that's all that matters, right? Some years are better than others but I really don't think we should beat ourselves up over things like this. You are an awesome mom! At least you got your baby in a costume. SJ would have nothing to do with it and was in bed before the fun began.
I am glad your kitty is safe. I love grey tabbys!
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