Halloween

Princess in Prison

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Halloween has come and gone once again, and I finally found my prince to set me free… at the end of about 300 guests or so.

Princess in Prison

The spooky spider web with the spooky spiders were all over the front of the house prison with the evil witch’s broom standing there ready for her to jump on and fly.  The bones of the poor deceased knights who had previously tried to save me were strewn across the yard.  And the wicked witch had changed herself into a broom!  Whenever an unsuspecting person walked by or touched it, she would laugh hysterically and move all over the place!  Just horrific!

My train is soooo long!  And my ring is shining because of the witch’s spell!

All evening I looked and looked for my prince.  Any suitor was not culled and told to ignore the bones of the previous knights; that surely the prospective suitor would be able to save me!

I just knew some of these superheros or ninjas or zombies could save me.  When I asked them if they would save me from the evil witch’s prison, they would look torn as if they just weren’t quite sure what to do, but the weight of their candy-filled pumpkins and the knowledge that more treats were out there eventually won them over, and they left me in the clutches of the evil witch in the form of a broom.  Alas.

Not all the names are known of these mighty warriors, but all did stop long enough in their trick-or-treat escapades to let me photograph them.

Finally!!  One of the mighty warriors relented and said they would save me!

Whom shall I choose as my knight in shining armor?

Quacky Halloween

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Kate and Ava in the duck towel

My little munchkins after their bath, loving up on each other for the Quacky Halloween post (actually they were just wanting pics made).  They love to get in a towel and have me take their pictures.  This one is the duck towel.

I always can’t resist saying, “Oh, you guys are so cute,” which prompts Kate to tell me to take their picture.  And Ava loves it too.  She does everything Kate tells her for the posing.

It’s all about Halloween here right now.  I was going to take pics of my yard, but didn’t make it home in time.  Those are coming tomorrow.

Have you sent me your pics for the contest yet?  🙂

The Week in Retrospect

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There is a little saying that I tell my children all the time, and other people, too, if I feel they need to hear it: “Just give it a year; a lot can happen in a year.”  In that year we have had babies born to lift our spirits, overcome hardship, renewed a marriage… the list goes on and on.

A lot can happen in a week, too.  This past week they were sad events: the loss of my little Boaz and much more importantly the loss of a dad, the dad my children still needed in their lives.  And the little saying just won’t work this time because that kind of loss never leaves.  That kind of loss is the kind in which a person has to learn to live differently:  without the presence they loved.

This week was an emotional week where my children and family met to honor someone they loved, to remember the goodness and the grace of God within him, to pour out loving support.  It was a time where friends of their dad came to tell our children good things about their dad, tell funny stories, and express sorrow.

When I woke up this morning, I was going to hop up out of bed and start right off with the Halloween contest and the goals for the month.  But starting off with remembering the past week was more appropriate.  And then we have to move on because that’s the way life is.  It may take us longer than a year (sometimes a lifetime) to move on, but that we must do.

My grandfather-in-law, Joe Wright,  was a mortician.  He experienced death on a personal basis regularly, not just in his business but through the loss of many of his close, loved, family members.  After the death of his grandson, my husband James, when I was so distraught, he talked with me and said, “Life is for the living.  We have to keep living until we die.”   Not existing, but living.

So this month, I want you to live.  Make the effort to do something you don’t ordinarily do:  exercise? read your Bible? dance? say I love you at least once a day? send me your Halloween photos?

Blessings to you on your efforts.  Send me an update on what you are doing.  Send me Halloween photos.

Halloween Past

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Beauty and the Beast

These photos came out of my scrapbook.  As you can tell by the chopped off hair, it was one of my first books.  Such a nice point on Beauty’s head!  James and I had gone to my cousin’s house to one of the parties they gave just about every year.  He would wear this costume just about every year too.  It’s still around here somewhere.  The dress?  That was a prom dress of Keely’s that was way too tight then.  I couldn’t get an upper arm in that little baby now!

Brenda the Flapper

This flapper dress was one of my absolute favorites!  Cost quite a bit of money too for so many years ago.  I never did get it back from my neighbor who borrowed it.  She said she gave it back, but she didn’t.  I’m sure it was an honest mistake.  Those things just have a way of never returning, those loaned out items, money, flapper dresses.  I’m still sad about it, though.

All my kids were hobos.  Shoot!  I’ve probably been a hobo.  I love that hobo costume, too.  Just so easy, and they look so doggone cute.  Kids don’t dress up like this anymore.  They all want to be superheros or some other costume from the store, but I’m sure if I had had that option when I was a young trick-or-treater, I would have been Kitty from Gunsmoke or Captain Kangaroo or…

My family has been a little bit of everything from animals to outlaws.   I usually dress up every year for my little trick-or-treaters.  One year I was the tooth fairy complete with glitter and a tooth purse and tooth wand and wings.  As the little girl walked down the driveway with her mom, she had her head turned back looking at me in awe and finally said, “Mommy, that’s where the tooth fairy lives!”  Just priceless!

And that is one of the reasons I love Halloween!

The Hobos

Gypsy Keely 1981

We were all gypsies, too.  At least we girls were.  I doubt the boys ever were made into gypsies.  The fingernails were made out of paper that I either painted red or was already red.  I remember wearing that skirt!  Poor baby.  She looks a little ratty now that I relook at her from a few years away.

The kids were all good sports when it came to wearing some of the garbs that Momma thought up.  And a couple of them even won prizes in the contests held at school.  I have a few more Halloween pictures to dig out for next month, and in that group is the one of Keely as a geisha girl.  Someone had given her an authentic Oriental pink top and pants, so that was all the inspiration I needed.  She won with that little outfit.  That’s a definite October post.

Jarred the Belly Man

Below is Jarred in a costume that won him first place in one of the school contests at their Halloween party for the community.  Jarred’s hat is made out of poster board, and he has his hands up in it.  I painted his belly to look like a face and made hands out of paper.   As I recall, he was fairly worn out from holding his arms up for so long.  But he did like the costume.

Email me some of your wild, crazy, wacky, gorgeous, outrageous, odd, funny costumes.  I’ll post them in October, and we’ll vote on them.  The winner gets a prize!

It’s not that hard; however you may have to scan them if you don’t already have them on your computer.  Just attach to an email.  If you don’t know how, send me an email, and I’ll help walk you through it.  The email address is below.    apronsandappetites@yahoo.com.sg

Somehow I have a foreign “sg” on there for now.  Trying to get it fixed.  duh!  I’m sure I did that when I set up the email.

My Witch Heart Loves Halloween

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Halloween is right around the corner.  I’m sure it is because everything has been out since, oh, July or so.  And Christmas is right behind it because there are Christmas shelves and shelves and shelves in the stores containing all sorts of decorations and toys.  If I blink my eyes, I’m sure to miss it.  It’s that close!!  Isn’t it?

I was at Cracker Barrel tonight and just couldn’t decide.  Do I buy Halloween stuff or Thanksgiving stuff or Christmas stuff.  I looked all over for Easter stuff but didn’t see any.  I am amazed at how much stuff Cracker Barrel can pack into that little store.  But it’s such cool stuff!

There was an enchanted broom (click on link to see pic) that follows people around.  I absolutely had to have it!!  I can hardly wait to scare the snot out of the little kids that come for Trick or Treat.  I love Halloween!

Sometimes I feel as though I shouldn’t, with all the emphasis put on the devil nowadays, but I do.  It’s probably my favorite holiday.  And the reason it’s my favorite holiday is because it’s just fun.  Everyone’s in a good mood, laughing and visiting as they walk the neighborhood, although the Trunk and Treat move is sort of destroying the whole Trick or Treat spirit.  Oh, I’m sure they have the same camaraderie as do the rest of us who sit in our yards or houses and wait for the princesses and ghouls and other various superheros and monsters to come by.  It was just so much fun as a kid to wander all over town and knock on those doors and say “Trick or Treat!”

Even though the other major holidays hold a deep meaning in my heart, they are usually fraught with the burden of buying gifts, the sadness of loved ones not around, the lonesomeness of those with no one close, or the hustle and bustle to “get ‘er done so we can move to the next stop.”  It saddens me that Christmas and Easter have become as pagan as Halloween once was hundreds of years ago.  So I will always love Halloween.  It gives me a chance to be a kid again while I enjoy the kids and their families that walk with them.

Up next:  pics of Halloween Past from the Byassee archives.