Halloween

Julia learned a new song from the boy who sits next to her in class. She taught it to all her friends who gleefully repeated it all night long. Perhaps you remember it from your own irreverent youth: Trick or Treat, Smell my feet, give me something good to eat. If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear. Quite the little lady, our girl.

We trick or treated "downtown" Ballard and loaded up our baskets with goodies from the merchants. I loved the spa that handed out organic pumpkin hand scrub to the mamas. We all enjoyed visiting with the "grandmas and grandpas" at the senior center (especially fetching was the octogenarian gentleman dressed as a white robed, silver tinsel adorned angel). After an hour, Mimi announced that her basket was full enough (much to our surprise) so we headed out to a friend's house for a pizza party.

This was our first year of not staying behind to pass out candy. While we don't get a lot of trick or treaters, there are kids in the neighborhood we really look forward to seeing each year. In the days leading up to Halloween, I toyed with the idea of sending Mark and the girls to the pizza party while I manned the candy basket back home. Then yesterday a couple of neighbors let us know they were heading out for the evening, too, and all guilt was absolved. Halloween on a Friday night is the perfect opportunity for a party...and all of Seattle must have seized it.

As for the costumes, Mimi embodied Tinkerbell...I'm pretty sure Mimi is part fairy to begin with so it was a natural role for her. Everyone easily identified her in her Disney Store costume. Julia, proud in her hand sewn Cinderella-in-rags costume, was less easy for people to recognize. Especially once she donned a black sweater cape to keep warm. Tired of people guessing she was a pilgrim, she wound up ditching the cape so folks could see the details of her perfectly-matched-to-the-book sleeves and and tiny kerchief-wearing bluebird pinned to her shoulder. Still, I think Halloween costumes have been boiled down to the least common denominator: kids choose to be that which is familiar and well marketed. It didn't occur to many that Cinderella in rags was a costume one might choose. There were a few adults, however, who really appreciated her "road less traveled by" choice. I loved hearing one lady exclaim, "Did you see the bluebird? How sweet!"

As for that homemade costume, my favorite moment was having a teacher at Julia's school report that when she complimented her on her outfit, Julia beamed, "My mama sewed it for me!" It made it all worth it.

Oh, and Mimi's first comment this morning? "Butterscotch candy, yummmmm!"