Creepin’ It Real

Happy Halloween!!  What a fun holiday!!  It’s early in the morning and I already can feel the excitement in the air.  When I was a kid, Halloween came to a close second to Christmas.  I can’t wait to pass out candy to the adorable trick-or-treaters tonight.  When they saunter up to the door, they usually assume the identity of their costumes.  The ninjas leap daringly, the superheroes push out their chests, and the princesses hold their chins up, elegantly and regally.

People have had their Halloween decorations out for weeks now.  There are a few houses that are just “known” to go all out for Halloween.  Some of them create Haunted Houses that take weeks to set up.  Even my husband and I have purposely driven by “those houses” to make sure that they’re going to be in full production this year.

Thinking of Halloweens past, brings a chuckle to my heart.  One year I was called to pick up my eldest son from his preschool because his Darth Maul costume with the painted face that he insisted on having, was too scary and upsetting for the other kids.  Another year, I purchased an Oreo cookie costume for my middle son.  He was very frustrated that the costume wasn’t scary enough.  He kept making extreme scary faces with a cream puff on top of his head.  My two youngest sons both went as dragons one year.  The picture of them dressed as double dragons was so cute, that the film developer (that’s what they did back in the day), took it upon himself to blow up the picture and frame it.  My daughter is very artistic.  Her Halloween ensembles have always had a dark, phantom-like quality to them, no matter how innocent the costume.

I grew up in the north.  Some years it would snow on Halloween.  It was always such a disappointment to have to cover up my fantastic, creative costume with a puffy winter coat.  My youngest son writes for his school newspaper.  He wrote a hilarious article this year entitled, “Dentist and Devils Both Start with D:  Don’t Give Out Toothbrushes”.  One year we lived in the same neighborhood (clearly in a different division) as the Steelers’ great, Jerome Bettis.  Jerome happily passed out the king-sized candy bars to the trick-or-treaters himself, with a line forming miles down the street.

It bothers me when people demonize Halloween.  Why??  It’s just great fun!  It’s that one day of the year to let it all hang out.  It’s that one day of the year when we embrace every part of ourselves. Halloween is the day that we admit that we all have dark sides, and wild and crazy parts, to go along with the responsible, buttoned-up, practical side of ourselves we typically show the world.  I remember being at a Halloween party one year with a lot of the other moms from my neighborhood.  There was one mom in our play group who was the epitome of conservative, southern genteel.  She was the standard we all measured our mom-worthiness by – unflappable, structured, neat, orderly and almost perfect.  That year, she showed up to the Halloween party in a Disco Diva costume that put the Solid Gold Dancers to shame.  She danced like I have never seen anyone dance and I loved her for it!  I saw an aspect of her that night that I didn’t know was under all that virtue.  How great is that!

“If human beings had genuine courage, they’d wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween.” – Doug Coupland