Another Hall Closet entry... Sorry, Terry :)

I have to share this with you guys...

We were sitting at the table the other night, eating dinner... a real delicacy... fish sticks and tator tots... I know, I'm not mom of the year, but at least we don't eat it in front of the tv... ANYWAY... I think it was the tator tots that brought this one on:

We were talking about Halloween coming up and what she thinks she'd like to be for Halloween. She thought for a minute (3 year old mind at work, ladies and gentlemen), then she announced in her proudest voice, "Mommy, for Halloween, I would like to be... (drumroll)... a bowl of ketchup."

Folks, this is my child... So, I inquired (maybe she likes the shape of the bottle or something), "Stella, you mean, like a bottle of ketchup?"

"Nope, Mommy a BOWL (cupping her hands) of ketchup, like this..."

She's now talking to me like I'M the three year old, in need of explanation because I'm sooo dense. :) LOL What a monkey!

I haven't mentioned it in a few days, and I think she's forgotten about it, but I thought I'd better share it because it was sooo funny :)

Sarah

LOLOLOL!!!

It could really really work... just make her the tater tot in the middle! lol

chuckle. My child was a pea in a pod (and was TOO cute for words!!) when she was a baby, followed by a Hershey's Kiss, Mini Mouse, a blue crayon (that was her first foray into deciding what she wanted to be), a ballerina, a fairy (a la tinkerbell, but pink not green), Mulan (fuchsia-colored kimono) and a UT cheerleader. And apparently a couple I've forgotten, since she's had more birthdays than costumes. I have no idea if she'll dress up this year or not - she's reaching the stage where she's a bit old to dress up, but she still likes the candy. She mentioned having some friends over for a bonfire/weenie roast/s'mores cookout. We'll just have to see!

Terry-

Those are all cute ideas :) She's off the ketchup thing now... whew! I think she's moved on to Bob the builder. I hate when she wants to be a "character"... I'd like her to be something more original... last year she was "the sun" :) I know I'm a dork! But she has that curly blonde hair and I made it stand on end to look like rays... it was soooo cute! :)

I asked her if she wanted to be the "girl builder"... she said no, she wants to be Bob... I guess I'd better get myself to the Osh Kosh store! haha ;)

Sarah

Hi There,

In Australia it is quiet sad as we do not celebrate Hallowen, I know it is an American Tradition. What I find totally bizzare here is that children come knocking on our doors (when we used to live in town) wanting only treat, they didn't even dress up as any type of character which I felt was disappointing. As the kids here where only interested in the sweets they could get from us I got clever and cut up a plate of fruit, when the kids knocked I just said "sorry, but where is your costume?" "we dunno" was the reply from the kids, so when you tell them that you don't have any lollies but they can take a healthy piece of fruit they pretty quickly run on to the next house. I would have been happy to give the kids a treat here but only if they were even half willing to put on a costume of some sort before belting on my door.

I probably sound like a scrooge, but I thought that the whole idea of Hallowen was to have a costume and become a character that you loved.

Just an aussie perspective.

Cheers
Windale

Halloween is not a holiday we care for very much. But little kids in cute costumes are precious. Sarah, wish I could see a picture of a liitle curly, blonde haired sun.

Aww, Sarah...too bad she changed her mind. I'd have loved to have seen her bowl of ketchup costume!

I LOVE Halloween! It's my favourite holiday (honest!) I love dressing up. We only get about 10 trick-or-treaters here, but I still get all decked out in a costume to greet them!

Am I just a big kid? Heck, yes! ☺

Rhonda

I am totally with you on the "scrooge" theory! The thing that really gets me is the teenagers who have part time jobs, who could buy themselves candy and they put on a hat, call themselved "dressed up" and go raid the ritzy neighborhoods! GRRR... If you wanna dress up, go for it! Otherwise, don't just "play the field" haha

I wish I had a picture of "the sun" to share... they're all paper photos, and my scanner is currently at my mom's house on loan. It sure was cute though! :) I hope I can convince her to be something a little more creative than Bob...

I usually come up with some easy-to-wear costume for myself.... but I don't trick or treat. :) I just raid her candy when we get home! LOL She shouldn't have all that sugar, right? ;) We're really not too big on candy in our house anyway, we have a candy dish we hardly ever touch... Stella's favorite food is salami (I know, a weird 3 year old), and mine is cheddar cheese, so I guess our tastes just run saltier :)

A few years back I was a ladybug.. I just bought a red ballcap, put black, felt dots on it, and strung black pipe cleaners through a few of the holes for antennae... then I put googly eyes on the bill. It was really cute. :) I have a good idea for this year, but it's a little bit of an adult idea, so I might not be able to do it ;)

I'm really hoping we have a better time this year than last. Last year we went out to trick or treat here at our apartment complex, and we fell down a flight of concrete stairs about halfway through. It was pretty traumatic... poor .little Stella, wasn't hurt, just shook up. She calmed down and we finished trick or treating, mommy limping along behind :( ... She was still telling people about it at EASTER, so it must've been pretty "memorable" Poor kid, this year will be better!!! :)

Sarah

I saw a costume where it was a tux with kudzu draped all over one half... "Hollywood and Vine"...

Hollywood and Vine...cute! So is a three-year-old who's favorite food is salami!!

I want to see a picture of that sun also, how adorable! I do pass out candy and occasionally dress up, but I decorate for fall/harvest instead of Halloween. I just can't bring myself to hang bats and skeletons around. (I also dress the dogs up, they look so cute)

Several years ago, my sister, Paula and her then fiance were invited to a 'Famous Duos' costume party. He insisted on going but she refuses to wear Halloween costumes. They compromised, he put a 'towel turban' on his head, she wore regular clothes, and they went as Paula Abdul LOL. They won a prize for most creative and all it took was a towel.

Rachel

Rachel... I'm with you on the decorations. I've never taken to the "darker" side of the Halloween celebration. The best I can do is those cute pumpkin face window clings :) Which my daughter recently found in the office, so I guess we're decorated early this year ;)

Sarah

I used to work at a daycare, where the owner was REALLY into Halloween and decorated with scary witches. Some of the kids were terrified-- I couldn't believe her insensitivity to that!

I find Halloween a very interesting day, especially the history behind it. This year I'm going to be a geisha-- we visited friends in Japan last year and they bought us kimonos, on the condition that we send them Halloween pictures. :) They really are intrigued by Halloween, too, and they don't have it in Japan. I'm sending them a Halloween goodie bag this year.

Sarah, I'd love to see pictures, whatever she ends up being, if you're willing to post them!

--Dana

We don't do Halloween in our family anymore because of how bad it has become, but we do participate in the Fall Festivals that are around. I pile pumpkins and mums up on the porch and I put up fall wreaths and we have a nice fall flag for our house pole. I love fall, but I hate Halloween. It's become so scary and so evil (of course it started out evil, so no big surprise there) and there are 'way too many weirdos out there. Good old American commercial greed hops us from summer into Halloween and before that's over we are already into the big Christmas rush. We skip straight over Thanksgiving--not enough money in it--not enough people are thankful any more. It's just another day off work to a lot of people. My kids used to trick-or-treat, but we knew everyone in the neighborhood and the treats used to be safe candy, fruit, popcorn balls wrapped in celophane--that sort of thing. I know there are cute costumes and good fun things that can get done, and the little kids are really cute. Too bad the fun things get so messed up. One year when we were teenagers we went trick-or-treating for treasure hunt items (silly things like buttons, feathers, an old spoon, ribbon of a certain color)one only item from each house) or for pennies that we donated to somebody that needed them. That was a while ago, I guess you know. Anyway, just my two cents worth. I still love fall.

Geez, I feel really bad that the fun's been sucked out of Halloween for a lot you folks! : (

It's awful when a few nasty people make an event fearful for everyone. We don't really have much trouble around here on Halloween--not any worse than any other time.

In fact, I think things were worse when I was a kid, when kids used to egg passing cars and rub soap or wax on people's windows or throw toilet paper around someone's yard or steal road signs. Nothing like that goes on here anymore. You don't suppose kids are actually better behaved (in some ways) than they used to be?

Rhonda

History of Halloween: http://wilstar.com/holidays/hallown.htm
The next day is All Saint's Day: http://www.calendar-updates.com/Holidays/US/allsaints.htm
and the next day is All Soul's Day: http://all-souls-day.123holiday.net/

Thanks, Darius. Yes, Halloween didn't originate out of evil, but of trying to prevent evil! The Celts had a very different set of challenges and fears than we do, and their rituals were invented to (they believed) protect themselves. And there's the Roman harvest influence, and don't forget the Catholic origins, which also play a big part in today's Halloween celebrations. Here's another good history from the History Channel: http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/?page=origins. So celebrate if you want, don't if you don't want, but I LOVE a good excuse to have some fun! :)

Wow, great posts, guys! This has turned into a much broader conversation than I expected! :) Gee, posting pictures of Stella from Halloween?

What ever gave you the idea I post pictures of Stella?!?!?!? ;)

Sarah

I have to say, I think she's make an ADORABLE bowl of ketchup!!

...but a very bright sun! Love the hair!

Thanks, guys!

She's my little sunshine alright :)

I thougth it might be funny... she could have a good excuse to have ketchup on her face all day, that's a heck of a lot more cost-effective than face paint! :)

Sarah