Where has the year gone? It feels like Spring Break was last week! I guess the non-celebrations of milestones and events this COVID-19 year has contorted my sense of time. Tomorrow is Halloween, and all we’ve got on the schedule is Eli’s Chess Tournament at school and Liz’s friend’s birthday party. Nate’s staying in Starkville at MSU, so I’ve not had to waste time, I mean, prepare costumes for the clan this year! I think it’s the first time in 19 years!
My kids are all grown up; my baby just passed her written exam at the DMV this week, for Goodness’ sake! In “researching” my scrapbooks for this blog, I’ve been finding the most adorable pictures of three little “dibblets,” as their cousin Lauren affectionately dubbed them years ago, in the cutest Halloween outfits. Do you mind if I share a few pictures? I’ll be brief.
In 2008, the boys were just beginning their obsession with Star Wars. Eli was a Storm Trooper, Nate was Batman, and Liz was an angel… with a crooked halo. How appropriate!
In 2009, the kids repeated their 2008 costumes—well, except for Nate, who’d be given a hand-me-down Tai Kwan Do suit from a cousin—so they could venture out to about three houses before returning to destroy the loot!
In 2010, our church began hosting a Trunk or Treat Event. Tiffany had moved in with us and suggested Scooby and the Gang to go along with our cool blue van. Liz refused to join in. She’d always felt like Scooby was too scary. She still does. Besides, she really wanted to wear that jangly scarf around her waist that Aunt Christy had brought back for her from Morocco. Nana obligingly made a somewhat non-descript black outfit for her to wear with it, and we told people she was the evil gypsy that seems to be in all the Scooby episodes. At some point, she discarded the scarf and just ran around collecting candy in her nondescript costume. That was our Christmas picture, by the way, and so many people had the opportunity to wonder about her costume and felt prompted to ask questions.
In 2011, we tried for a family theme again. By this time, my boys were really crazy for Star Wars, so we all played along. Liz wanted to be Princess Leia. She repeatedly showed me the costume she wanted, and I flatly refused. (I’ll bet you can guess which one she wanted.) So she chose to be a mermaid instead. Go figure.
The next years followed whatever time period we were studying in homeschool: Knights, Kings, and Queens, then pirates with a treasure chest of fortune cookies (a big hit and a secret to “Easy Entertaining”), and then Betsy Ross and some Revolutionary War Heroes.
What do we do now for Halloween? I have no idea. It’s probably going to look like every other 2020 Saturday to me with a little exception: I plan to sit on the porch with a huge bowl candy just in case some little people venture out to Trick or Treat. I hope they do because I can’t be left in the house with 250 pieces of chocolate!
