Photo taken by Jill Shadden
Halloween is an ancient holiday with a rich historical background. Originating in the Celtic culture, this celebration was meant to ward off ghosts that roamed on All Saints’ Day, October 31. Throughout the years Halloween has evolved into a secular, community celebration with kid-friendly activities. People still dress up in costumes, but for fun rather than to hide their personal identity from roaming ghosts.
Halloween is meant to be a frightful and fun holiday. It is a time when people embrace all things scary. Many people indulge in horror movies meant to give you nightmares for weeks and visit “haunted” houses for the thrill and adrenaline rush that accompanies fearing for your life. When I think of Halloween the imagery that comes to mind includes ghosts, black cats, grimacing jack-o-lanterns, werewolves, vampires, witches, goblins, demons, homicidal maniacs, and zombies. Basically, nothing that gets me excited. I don’t like to be scared- I hate scary movies, have never been to a haunted house, and don’t enjoy having nightmares for days.
When I was a child Halloween was my second favorite holiday of the year (next to Christmas). It was an opportunity to dress up with my friends and accumulate enough candy to live on for weeks. Another perk was the Halloween party at school, which took away from class time (the best part). The whole party/dressing up/getting candy scenario was enough to keep Halloween high on my list of favorite holidays when I was a child- until I got to middle school. Once I hit the age where it was no longer “cool” to go trick-or-treating all the fun was gone and I despised the holiday. As punishment once in high school my mother forced me to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters….it was the most annoying night ever. As an adult I have never (not once) handed out candy to trick-or-treaters. I have a problem with anyone coming to my door unannounced. It makes me very uncomfortable (probably more than it should). Plus, there’s the whole issue of having to watch for trick-or-treaters all night and force a fake smile and make nice comments all night about costumes. Sure, there are some adorable kids out there trick-or-treating and they are mostly sweet children enjoying the holiday like I used to. I know I am weird, but I just can’t get into the thrills of Halloween. Until I had a child it had sunk to the bottom of my favorite holiday list.
Now that I have Macie I am starting to mildly enjoy Halloween again- this year more than last. Last year Macie was only three months old and had no idea what was going on. Plus, there are a very limited number of cute Halloween costumes for children under one. After searching for the “perfect” costume, I settled with a pink ballerina. Macie looked adorable, but we really didn’t do anything to commemorate the holiday. This year has been much more fun- mostly because we are celebrating with Macie. I really enjoyed picking out her Minnie Mouse costume and putting it all together. Macie looks so sweet in her costume and really enjoys twirling around in her dress. This year we got more involved in Halloween festivities. A few weeks ago we got pumpkins to decorate the house. Last week we decorated a paper pumpkin. We even took Macie to one of our favorite photographers (Jill Shadden- In The Moment Photography) and did a mini-Halloween session to visually commemorate the holiday. Over the weekend we went to a toddler friendly Halloween party and had a lot of fun watching Macie play with, or watch, the other children. Today, Halloween, Macie wore her costume to Stay and Play (a weekly playgroup for Webster Groves infants and toddlers) and had another opportunity to play with children her age all dressed up.
Although I am personally not a huge fan of Halloween, I am beginning to appreciate it as a parent. I want Macie to enjoy Halloween as much as I did as a child. Therefore, I have to provide her with opportunities for celebrating this holiday. In the process of engaging in Halloween activities and observing Macie’s entertainment, I enjoyed the holiday slightly more this year than in the past. No, I am not passing out candy this year (I have a graduate class tonight, how convenient)…or next year. But in the future I am not opposed to passing out candy at Macie’s request. Basically, I will continue to embrace Halloween not for myself, but for my daughter. Hopefully in the process I will regain my original enthusiasm for Halloween.
So, Happy Halloween! Hopefully next year I will actually mean it. Bah Humbug J
0 comments:
Post a Comment