Smells Like October

(This post is rather long, but I wanted to record some of these memories for the kids - that is kind of my whole purpose for the blog anyway.)

Fall is in the air and I love it. The kids got in an argument this morning about whether or not fall had actually arrived because it feels like fall but the leaves have not turned colors yet. I assured them that fall is definitely on it's way. I am SO ready for fall.

I love the smell of the air. I love the colors of the leaves. I love the pumpkins. I love visiting Aunt Beth's house this time of year because she is the first person I know to get out her fall decor. Her house is completely decked out for fall. Walking into her house is like walking into Williams-Sonoma around this time of year. She does things up good. I love it. Puts me in the mood for a nice long visit to the pumpkin patch. I can't wait.

There is one thing I don't like about fall though. I would have to agree with my friend, Dani, and her assessment that the stores seem to make it their goal to scare the daylights out of our children with their halloween displays this time of year. I hate the way the stores glorify the scary/bloody/demonic side of halloween. Ugh. It is disgusting.

I remember the good ole' days when halloween was good clean fun. There were no such things as "store bought" costumes - you just made a costume using your own creativity and skill. Churches and schools would have fall carnivals and not a single witch or mummy would show up to the event. Neighbors were your friends and nobody thought twice about letting children roam through the neighborhoods seeking candy door to door. Those were the good ole' days.

Those were the days when my brother, sister and I would dress up in fun costumes for our school carnival and win the costume contest every year. My mom was the greatest costume maker of all time. I distinctly remember the princess and angel costumes she made for me. I also remember my sister and I both dressing as Wonder Woman one year. We rocked that year. Usually, my mom made costumes for the three of us kids that coordinated with one another. For example, one year we were the "Three Blind Mice," another year we played Dorthy, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man. I can still remember the smell of the "prize closet" where we got to go and pick out our prizes for winning first place in the costume contest. Funny how those memories stick with you. I never remember anything demonic or frightening about halloween. I think there was one neighbor who had what we called a "fright house" where he would hide somewhere on the front porch and scare unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. I avoided that house because it made me pee my pants - literally.

Our church even had costume night as part of AWANA. Of course, we had to dress up as Bible characters, but that too was fun. As I got a little older, I remember totally pushing the limits by dressing as Jezebel. (My husband tells people I dressed as Bathsheba, but I have a better memory than him and I know I was not THAT daring - I was just Jezebel.) Another year, I totally pushed the limits on the Bible themed costume limitations when me and my best friend dressed as "Jesus Freaks." Really, we were just looking for an excuse to dress like hippies to church. We thought we were hilarious. I think we got disqualified from any costume contest that year.

Perhaps due to the fact that my memories of halloween are good clean fun memories, I don't have a problem with celebrating the season in a good clean fun kind of way with my own kids. (I totally respect families who don't celebrate halloween in any way also.) I kind of like to carry on the tradition of fun (theme) costumes for our kids each year. Of course, we don't go out "trick-or-treating" with the kids. We go to the houses of our family or friends and we go to the carnival held at the big church near our house. It is an amazing carnival. They have about 150 booths set up with age-appropriate games for the kids. And they give handfuls of candy for each game you play. The kids have a blast. The one thing I don't like about this carnival is that every year they rent one of those inflatable slide things for the kids to play on. This wouldn't be a problem for me except that they always rent the one that is in the shape of a sinking Titanic. I mean, good grief! What is next? Bungee jumping from replicas of the World Trade Center? Seriously, if they have that Titanic thing out there again this year, I am totally writing a letter. The history teacher in me is ready to drop kick the idiot responsible for making that Titanic slide. That is just wrong.

I digress. Anyway, this year, Joey and I are mourning the loss of sole control over what the kids wear for the carnival. The kids seem to want to use their own creative minds and pick their own costumes instead of letting us pick their costumes for them. We have had a blast in previous years coming up with cool "theme" costumes for the kids. Joey and I even dressed up a few years with them. I will share a few pictures just for fun:

Joey has this thing about wanting us to dress like someone or something that we already resemble. Jonah's first halloween was the same year that the Matrix movies were a big hit. Joey decided I could easily pull off a "Trinity" character, so we went with the Matrix family theme costume that year. Joey dressed as "Neo" and we simply created a child character for Jonah - we figured Neo and Trinity might eventually have kids. It was fun. The hardest part was not smiling since they always look so serious in the movies.

The next time we dressed up was nearly a year after Hannah was born. Again, Joey found a character that he thought I already resembled and decided we could pull off an "Incredible" get up. That was a big hit. The kids STILL insist on wearing those Incredible pjs we bought them every once in a while even though now they are at least two sizes too small.

The following year, Joey and I sat out while we dressed the kids as two of Joey's all time favorite characters - Luke and Leia. Those costumes may or may not have been an excuse for Joey to get out his newly aquired "toy" he had purchased with a gift card from The Sharper Image. (I must admit, the R2-D2 is a lot of fun to play with.)

The next year the kids dressed as a horse and a cowboy. It was adorable, but I somehow neglected to get a single picture. I don't know where my brain was that year.

This year, Joey and I had great plans. Joey finally found someone he thinks he already resembles. He decided he would dress like Billy Mays. "Who?" you ask? Well, you know that guy that sells stuff on tv and shouts during the entire infomercial. Yeah, him. He sells everything from Oxy Clean to Shark Steam Mops. He is super annoying. If Joey were to gain back the 30 or so pounds he lost, grow out his beard, carry a bottle of Oxy Clean and shout at people, it would be the perfect costume. As for me, we decided I could easily pull off a Sarah Palin. I just need an updo, a skirt suit and some no-rim glasses. I would be proud to impersonate her.

As for the kids, we had SUPER grand plans to let them dress as our favorite cartoon characters this year - Charlie and Lola. If you have never seen this cartoon, you must. It is the absolute greatest Disney cartoon ever in the whole wide world. It is a Lauren Child creation. Charlie and Lola both have British accents and Lola speaks in utter absolutes almost every second of just about every episode. They are brother and sister. We planned to teach the kids how to mimic the English accents and everything.

BUT...It looks like this might be the first year that the kids win and get to pick their own costumes. Hannah has already insisted that she be a Mermaid and Jonah thinks he must be a superhero of some kind (it changes daily). Oh well, maybe we can convince them to be Charlie and Lola next year. That will at least give us another year to work on their accents.