Happy Hallowalli!

Happy Hallowalli

Today is Halloween.  Halloween has always been my favorite holiday of the year.  When I was much younger, I don’t think I knew why, but I loved it.  And it wasn’t for the candy (not that I didn’t love the candy).  As I grew to know myself I realized that for someone naturally shy, an observer more than an eager participant, I love Halloween because I could try on any persona without being judged.  I could try to be scary or funny or silly or sexy.  I could be Marilyn Monroe, the Cat in the Hat, a snake having eaten a rat, a witch, a pirate, a jester.  Once I had kids, I loved making it special for them, hoping to make it magical.  For George’s first Halloween I made a little lamb costume.  I do believe he was the cutest little lamb to ever live (at least until his sister wore the same costume some years later). 

George, age 2.5 months

Grace, age 5 months

Alexander, age 5 months

This year was much more difficult.  I didn’t plan ahead for Halloween when we were leaving Seattle, and didn’t think about how hard it might be to find costumes in India.  Grace and Alex’s preschool did a Halloween celebration about a week before Halloween.  Luckily I did OK for that.  Grace was happy wearing clothing with kitties on it and having whiskers and a kitty nose and mouth painted on her face with my liquid eyeliner.  Alexander had his Buzz Lightyear costume, including inflatable wings and he wanted me to  draw Buzz’s silly eyebrows and chin dimple! 

Then we had another lucky break when Chris had to go to Europe and England the week before Halloween and his Mum, Nana, came through amazingly, buying each child a skeleton costume, bags of candy and Halloween decorations.  Saved by Nana and Daddy!

Halloween, of course, is not a celebrated holiday in India, but the kids didn’t want to miss out.  The final day of Diwali was the 30^th, so our house was nicely decorated with colored lights and orange flower gardlands.  On Halloween night, our wonderful expat neighbors, Rose and Ian, brought over fireworks for the neighborhood men to do for the kids.  So George, Grace and Alexander dressed up in their skeleton costumes, and Grace and George had me paint their faces like Day of the Dead, and I did mine too.  Chris put on a Farm Co-Op hat and a scary face and he was a “Trump Supporter.”  (It was a Wheaton Co-Op hat, so I hope I didn’t insult my wonderful Wheaton cousins.)  

We went outside to join the neighbors (Indian and English and Scottish) to oohs and aaahs at the costumes, and “wow,  Mam!” to my facepaint.  The men lit fireworks and the kids laughed and played and watched with glee.  Then, anxious to Trick-or-Treat, we sent Rose and Ian home so we could knock on their door.  They were lovely and invited the kids in to get some Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. 

Just so that wasn’t the end of the Trick-or-Treating, Chris ran home and we went to the double front doors of our house and the kids rang the doorbell.  Daddy opened it and passed out candy.  And because they were exhausted, the kids ate some candy and went right to sleep.  So with fireworks, facepaints, colored lights and candy, we had a very happy Hallowalli.