Halloween is coming

Now that it's officially past October 1st, I feel justified in ushering in many happy Halloween traditions from my childhood. I have a hard time explaining why I love Halloween so much. It's kind of irrational, I guess. The candy after Oct 31st is a nice perk, but there's much more than that. I love the Halloween decorations (the cute ones, of course). I love everything about fall: the colors, the cool air, the smell of wood-burning stoves, the chance to wear pants again (thus rendering shaving unnecessary). I admit it--I love all the seasons, but fall is perhaps a step ahead of the rest. [I bet if I asked Danielle, and maybe watched Jacob for a few hours, my dear sister could write a really nice fall poem to go hand-in-hand with "Spring."]

Yesterday Danielle and I sorted through 5 boxes of old Halloween costume kits that we wore growing up. Sage really wanted to be a princess, but was too embarrassed to try on the costumes with others looking, so I brought a few home. This morning Sage asked me, "Can I just sit down on this chair and think about what I’m going to be for Halloween, Mom?” So I pulled out the costumes, and let her dress up.

She liked being a ghost (for 15 seconds). She kept the witch outfit on long enough for me to get a picture. (So cute!--even though the hat looks like it belongs to Barbossa the pirate from this angle.)

Then we came to the princess outfit. Sage loved it all--wand, crown and skirt. There was no designated princess shirt, and Sage wouldn't hear of me putting on one of her own with the princess costume. She insisted on adding on a pair of fairy wings I had also brought home (still sans shirt). She pranced around the house singing "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo" and waving her wand at Mark, Eliza and me, and "changing" us into various things. So far tonight, I've been Cinderella, a horse, a dog and a pig, and a few other inanimate objects like a door and a pumpkin.

When it was bedtime, Sage was so unwilling to relinquish her newfound "identity" that we practically had to peel it off her. I asked her if she had chosen to be a fairy princess after all. She said, "No, Mommy. I'm a fairy godmother." It could be worse, I thought, as I pictured the Disney's Fairy Godmother's outfit--hooded periwinkle mumu complete with hideous moth-like magenta bow. It could be much worse.

Dress up time wasn't the only time we devoted to thinking of Halloween today. We also sang the very repetitive song "Halloween is Coming" (a Wilson classic), no less than 30 times today. (By the way, my dad is the only person I know of who made their children "Halloween-carol" a half dozen families before we were allowed to begin the real trick-or-treating.)

"Halloween is coming, coming, coming
Halloween is coming, oh what fun
There'll be lots of ____, ____, ____
There'll be lots of ____, oh what fun!"

Once Sage had exhausted all the Halloween items she could think of (witches, ghosts, princesses, pigs, candy, trick-or-treaters, chocolate, etc.), she moved onto other unrelated food items, mostly from Grandpa's garden and orchard (peaches, pears, tomatoes, etc.).

Halloween is coming, but not quickly enough. Maybe by the time Oct 31st actually rolls around, we'll be so sick of singing Halloween songs and dressing up that we'll just want to skip it ...Nah! October and fall are too fun to get grumpy. I think I can put up with a fairy godmother singing "there'll be lots of tomatoes" and turning me into a door a few more times.