I have to admit that in my adult life I've been a bit of a Halloween party-pooper. I just don't really get into it as much as some people.
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I think the whole idea of trick-or-treating is a little weird. We all go out and buy candy to give away to everyone else's kids, then send our own kids out to beg for candy. Strange idea in general, right?
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I always want to make my kids some really cute costumes but usually lack the time, talent, creativity, or ambition to do so. I usually end up buying them all on Ebay.
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Last year, we didn't even carve our pumpkin, and it's looking like it's not going to happen this year either. My poor kids. If there is a Halloween Scrooge, I'm it.
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Then I see people like my friend, Stephanie, who just LOVES Halloween, and always has so much fun with it and I spend Halloween wishing I would have dressed up or planned a party or something.
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So even though I'm almost too late, I'm going to celebrate Halloween, not just my kids. Here's how:
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1) I dressed up for the first time in years. I'm wearing my cat costume all day.
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2) I invited some friends over for white chicken chili and spiced cider. I just invited them this morning, so we'll see if they can really come or not. We started this traditional pre-trick-or-treating Halloween dinner a few years ago with some friends at BYU. We all moved away, but we reminisce about it every year. We've continued to eat white chili each year, but all by ourselves. Tonight we'll make a party of it.
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3) Earlier this month, we went to the craft store and let the kids help pick out some new decorations and I got material to make Lydia's super easy fairy costume. I had a really fun time making it!
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4) I've been burning Pumpkin Spice scented candles all month. I think I'm finally over the negative association I had with this particular scent. When I was pregnant (and sick) with Garrett, I burned this and a Harvest scented candle from Yankee Candle Company. 6 years later, I can finally burn it without wanting to vomit.
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We'll still keep the trick-or-treating to a minimum, and probably still not carve our pumpkin, but at least I'm improving.
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Now, does anyone have any great last minute costume ideas for Matt?
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Happy Halloween!
And just because I can't get enough of this girl, here's one more:
12 comments:
Too Cute! I love Lydia's little fairy tummy and the way she is clenching her wand and magic pumpkins.
What happend to the picture of the kitty?
Dori
I'm so with you on this one. I'm so over Halloween. It isn't just Halloween anymore--it is school fall festivals, Halloween parties at school, ward Trunk or Treat, and ON and ON. Thank heaven a couple in our ward came and took my three older kids out tonight so I could be grouchy at home with Bella.
Glad to know I'm not the only one depriving my children of pumpkin-carving memories!
Way to really through yourself into it! That is awesome you dressed up all day. So did you have a change of heart?
We didn't carve pumpkins this year. I had class tonight and missed all of the trick-or-treaters. I LOVE celebrating Halloween on Olive Street - I think my aunt handed out 3,000 pieces of candy last year. It is so crazy and fun. They block off a huge section of the road and kids are bussed in from all over! Halloween anywhere else just feels strange and a little too quiet for me.
Will you post your white chili recipe?
Lydia's costume is especially adorable-- really. Ah, so much fun to have a little fairy to dress up. I am very impressed with your creation! And, good for you. I don't dress up myself, but do love Halloween! Glad you finally got over the candle thing, I thought I'd scarred (sp?) you for life.
I am so glad that I am not the only one who didn't carve pumpkins. Sometimes I feel like Grace is being cheated because the boys don't care anymore and Q and I are just tired. Oh well - just more therapy for her later. Lydia is adorable - and I love her shoes! (The boys are cute too!)
When you are living overseas, you might be surprised at how much strictly American holidays come to mean to you. That's when I really got into Halloween and Thanksgiving and Fourth of July.
Cute costumes! I love Lydia's- great job making it!
We had Halloween in Turkey --- another American family here did some cardboard "pumpkin" carving a few weeks ago - It was great. On Halloween, everyone in our small little campus brought their kids out dressed up (the British, the Australians, the Turkish, the Ducth). It is so funny having kids dress up -- they love the door to door stuff too. I love seeing Calvin go through the motion of "Trick or Treating" - it cracks me up.
I have never been a big fan either, but I love seeing how the kids react when their world is manipulated into a whole different place: everyone dressed as something they are not with masks and face paint and running around with bags full of candy. It must be so confusingly (poetic license) wonderful.
Your posts are always so hilarious, I love them. And your kids are adorable!
I miss the Wymount white chile days! Good chile recipe ... I'll never have a Halloween without it.
The chicken chili is a great Halloween tradition - and so is the eBay idea, in my opinion.
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