Halloween 2014

Well, Halloween has come and gone this year, yet again.  For the 8 of you that read my Halloween post on this blog last year (here), you know how much I love Halloween.  For the rest of you, you probably have no idea.  I LOVE Halloween.

I always have.  Recently, I haven't done much to celebrate it, and to be quite honest, last year was a bit of a bust.  I prepared myself for trick-or-treaters to come to the door, only to have absolutely ZERO trick-or-treaters stop by for some candy.  I was actually pretty sad about it--I basically spent the night alone in my apartment waiting for something that never came.  I was pretty bummed.

I honestly can't even remember the last time I dressed up for Halloween.  College, probably.  There was a half hearted attempt at dressing up as Rory Gilmore during grad school, but aside from that, I haven't dressed up in many years.

So, being that I live in the same place as last year, I was prepared to not get any trick-or-treaters.  In my attempt to keep my relationship with Halloween alive, I knew I had to do something else.  So, this year, I decided to participate in my work's annual Halloween Costume Contest!  (I actually signed up for the pumpkin carving contest too, but being a procrastinator of the most amazing degree, I only got the costume done.  Oh well).

I dressed up this year as a Guts Winner!  I had elbow pads, mouth guard, helmet--the whole 9 yards.  As we did the little costume parade in front of our work, I fake jogged, and raised my piece of the "aggro crag" in the air, celebrating my victory.  After our second lap was completed, we ended in front of the line of free sandwiches (and chips and cookies), and the costume wearers got first dibs! (which was pretty awesome, I realized, when I saw the ridiculously long line forming).  Some people knew exactly what I was, and were pretty excited about it.  Others? No clue.

Everyone lined up at the table to vote for the best costumes, and I honestly didn't think I'd win.  I was just excited to have finally dressed up, when I had gone so long without doing so.  But, around 3pm, the email came out listing the first, second, and third place for the costume contest-- and I had come in second!  And, it included a prize!  I was beyond floored--and slightly embarrassed that the post had included a picture of me for which I was woefully unprepared. Okay, I was prepared, but I didn't know it was going to be sent out in a company-wide email. 

I will not reproduce that picture here; instead, I will post the picture I posted on Instagram, depicting my outfit (and which was liked by the Nickelodeon TV Instagram!):

Anyway, all in all, this Halloween was a much better time than last Halloween, and it just reaffirmed my love for the day.

For posterity, the day went like this: I wore winter PJs to bed for the first time this fall, I woke up to decidedly fall-like weather (overcast, with a bit of chill in the air), I went to work early, participated (and placed!) in the costume contest, got a free lunch, free treats, free soda, and then came home to watch scary movies with Tom (The Conjuring & Purge 2: Anarchy) & Cash, where we ordered pizza, and overdosed on candy corn and miniature kit kats, butterfingers, and the like (Tom & I did. Cash had a bit of pizza crust, and ate his dog food).  Ended with the first rain of the season, tinkling of rain gutters, and an overall content.

Happy Halloween!

All Hallow's Eve... One of my favorite days of the year-- the chill in the air, the cool breeze, the smell...

I LOVE the smell of Halloween.  I don't even know how to put it into words to accurately describe it, but there is something so personal about it for me--the smell of Halloween just lingering in the air tugs at my heartstrings.

I have always been fascinated by how scent is so very much tied to our memories.  I'm sure I'll write a post about it in the future, in fact.  But, for Halloween especially, scent is tied to my memory.  I don't know if it's the smell of fire in the air as it mingles with the dampness that is usually present in the evenings on Halloween in California, but it just makes me feel happy--and very, very nostalgic.

From a very early age I remember loving Halloween.  I would get so excited for days in advance--perhaps even weeks (months? Mom, help me out?).  Then, the day would finally (finally!) arrive.  The family would come over, my mom would make chili (which as The World's Pickiest Eater I would not eat, but no matter), and cornbread (which I would eat) and my cousin and I would go trick-or-treating after we took pictures in front of the fireplace showcasing our adorableness-- (see below evidence of cousin Chad as a baseball player, and me as a bunny).  I just remember being... happy.  So happy that everyone was together, that we would all walk around the neighborhood, and I'd get free candy, and people would tell me what a cute bunny or bumblebee I was.

Cousin Chad and Little Me circa 1989(?)

It was just happy-- so much so that thinking about it now makes me sort of sad.  I guess I feel sad in the way that only nostalgia can make us sad. In a way that makes me want to go back to those days, when everything was simpler and the problems I faced were so small, the heartbreaks so little ("I got Smarties again?! I HATE Smarties!")

It's funny how often some of our memories do that-- take the good, and leave the bad.  I know my family fought sometimes on Halloween, but I don't remember that--not really.  I just remember the smell of fall in the air, fireplaces burning, and holding my Mom's hand as we walked from house to house.

Fast forward to Halloween 2013.  I still love Halloween, for different reasons--for the memories I have of all those years as a child.  I asked for day shift, went in as early as this night shifter could bear, and have the chili warming in the crockpot, cornbread in the oven (carrying on the tradition from my Mom--after all, I'll eat it now), and a bowl of candy waiting by the door (no Smarties).  And I will wait for the trick-or-treaters to come, and I will tell them what a wonderful cowgirl, witch, ballerina, sheriff they make--and maybe in some of their faces I'll be able to see my cousin--and in some, maybe I will see myself, and for a moment I'll regain all that feels so much like loss.

I know (I hope) someday I will hold the hand of my own little ones, gathering candy and smiles;  until then, I take solace and comfort in warmth of the memories that make me realize how much I had, how lucky I was, and how very much I was loved.

Happy All Hallow's Eve from Natalie and Cash:

Cash & Natalie 2013

Hot Dog, I hope you had a Happy Halloween!