This is Halloween

  Genrally on Saturdays I post and update on my cross stitch project, but since today is Halloween I wanted to forgo the cross stitch and reflect on this day. Plus this gives me more time to catch up on my cross stitch work. Next week I will be going to a wedding and I not going to be able to work on my project as much as I would like to, but hopefully having two weeks to work on it will mean I will still be able do my regular Saturday post.

  Halloween has been one of my favorite Holidays since I can remember. My first couple of Halloweens were a hit and miss. One Halloween my mother made me a ghost costume from my dad's old shirt, but I got really sick and couldn't go trick-or-treating. The halloween after that my mom made me this amazing Snow White costume but before we were to go out my cousins and uncle, who were all dressed as vampires scared me so bad I was afraid to leave the house. Thanks guys.

  Halloweens after that were pretty fun. There is a kind of magic that happens around that time of year. There is even a special smell to the night. I'm not talking about the smell of roasting pumpkins, but a cool, crisp, fall smell to the air. Sometimes this smell would arrive in early September, other times not until right before Halloween. I have not been able to smell it since I moved north and it only adds to the many reason why southern California is way better than northern California (not having to carry a sweater with you all year is also on that list).

  I stopped trick-or-treating Freshman year of High School and Halloweens after that were spent at parties, in rehearsal/performances, working, Rocky Horror Midnight showings, or beach. These activities were fun but they never held the same magic as trick-or-treating.

Cutest tiger ever!

Examining her prize.

  My daughter who is now four (she will be turning five on December 23rd but thats a story for another entry), is super excited about Halloween. Her first Halloweens were a little more successful then my own. Her very first Halloween her father and I picked out a tiger costume. According to Chinese astrology she was born in the year of the Tiger and since she is half Chinese we thought it would be cute. The community where we lives was having a little Halloween celebration and since Alice, my daughter, was too young to trick-or-treat we decided that would be a fun thing for her to do. We decided to enter her into the costume contest for her age group and she won!

  The next year she was old enough to pick out her own costume. She went as Minnie Mouse, then Princess Sophia, then she took a break from Disney and went as a witch. This year she has returned to the Disney theme and is going as Elsa. Her dad even bought her an Elsa wig and I said I would do her make-up. This is a special treat since I myself do not wear make-up on a regular basis so it's viewed in our home as something only done on special occasions.  I even have the perfect purple MAC eyeshadow bought back before they started animal testing (boo MAC, boo you used to be my favorite) for her.

    This year is also another special treat since she will be attending her first Halloween Party complete with a Costume Parade followed by Trick-or-Treating. I've also decided to bake pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes since I have always felt that they taste exactly like Halloween! I can't say I miss grown up Halloween since I've had a good decade of those and instead of waking up to a bag of candy you wake up with a hangover and lingering memories of bad decisions.  So off I go to party with a bunch of kids, Trick-or Treat with my spawn, then fall asleep to my annual viewing of Stanley Kubrick's The Shinning. I wish all of you a Happy Halloween.

P.S. I believe there is a special place in hell for people who smash pumpkins that are not their own, and a very very horrible part of hell for anybody that would hurt or kill a black cat.