Give me something good to eat

Halloween has been my favorite holiday since I was a kid. Dress-up and candy! What's not to love? I was the kid who knew what they wanted to be on November 1st, then changed my mind 100 times before actually setting out to build a costume. Or if I couldn't decide, I just combined them. Hence, in 1987 (or '88, I can't remember) I was a punk rock vampire.

The past couple of years, I've been feeling my age. In that I haven't had any really good ideas until almost the last minute. And by "good ideas" I mean "ideas that make me giggle for more than 15 seconds." Recent favorites have included the year J & I went as Sirius Black & Professor Trelawney, then I was Red Fraggle, then Maleficent. Last year I was a peacock, and this year a giraffe. Not a sexy giraffe, just a giraffe, because really people. Giraffes are the poster children for awkward. Of course, I've been attending Halloween parties, not trick-or-treating, so it's a little different.  Then I went (with QAL) to sing at the best haunted house in town, and got to be all witchy.

Now I'm on the other side of the door when it comes to trick-or-treating. But I still dress up. My folks dressed up to hand out candy too. Dad is almost always a pirate, mostly because it means he can stop shaving for a few days, wear a comfy stripped shirt and toss his parrot, Merlin, on his shoulder. That made our house pretty popular once the kids realized it was a real parrot on his shoulder, not a stuffed one. We got kids dragging their friends by just to see the pirate with a real bird. Dad loves that. So do we.

Our house isn't that cool. No live parrot. Heck, I didn't even manage to get my spooky garland put up this year, or my light-up twigs for the front walk. Nope, just a lonely purple pumpkin sitting on the porch. Of course, on Friday, my dad gave me another awesome purple pumpkin. This one is covered in purple glitter, and has a jack-o-lantern face and is really like a witch's cauldron thing with a handle and you can put a candle in it. I plan on using it for much longer than the actual holiday dictates, because it is purple and glittery.

So, Friday, when I was a giraffe, the scarecrow said, "I only get to do this once a year, so I might as well go all out." And that reminded me that most people don't get to dress up on the weekends 4 months of the year. And that next year, neither will I. Man, my Halloween costume for 2012 had better be amazing to make up for all the time I'll be, you know, being a MOM instead of playing dress up. Or you know, maybe I'll just have a fun costume for the kid. I know there will be no shortage of ideas from our friends, since they're all dress-up type people too.

OH! and the story of the hats! So, have I told you the protocol for getting or giving random gifts? If I have, I'm going to do it again, just in case. The exchange goes like this:

Giver: Have you been good?

(you say yes)

Giver: Do you deserve a prize?

(again, SAY YES!)

Then you get your random, here-I-thought-of-you-when-I-saw-this gift. Well, my friend Amy was reading Temerity Jane's site and saw the link to the Sweet Pea in a Pod shop and saw an adorable picture of a baby wearing the cutest hat ever, and because we are hat-type people, she asked if the shop-lady could make it in grown-up sizes, and SHE DID! So now, Amy & Diva & I all have fluffy hats of softness with pom-poms on them. (This picture was taken right after we finished singing, hence why 2 of the 3 of us still have on crazy witchy make-up.)