Brennan is wearing a costume my Mom made probably over 50 years ago. It started out as a gypsy but Brennan decided it was a queen. Brennan's answer to any costume dilemma is always the same...just add a neon green wig and go get some candy!
A french artist...I think.
A kangaroo thinking deep thoughts...
A happy pink poodle
We went visiting at a nursing home in town. Hoping to install the concept that it is not always "all about them."My idea of planning for halloween is simple. About two days before it arrives, we all head to the garage to dig in our big bins of costumes. We have costumes from many eras....homemade ones that my Mom made for us and my siblings 50 years ago, costumes from over the years...ones that were popular, obsolete and then came back in style...but mostly classics like firemen, dinosaurs and clowns.
When we were little we loved to walk in the "Parade of the little people." On the Friday before halloween, we would get out of school before lunch..we would walk home and eat lunch and then walk back to school in our costumes. All the local elementary schools would line up for a parade through downtown Anoka. The middle school bands marched and there were several local floats. And that was just one of several parades in Anoka over Halloween. Can you guess I grew up in the Halloween Capital of the World?
When we lived in Anoka, our kids participated in the same parade. I would make something special for lunch and they would walk home to get ready for the parade. There was such a traditional feeling to this day...how we all walked home from school in the middle of the day assuming that Moms just stayed home waiting for us.
I have simple, stressfree memories of halloween. It was a chance to say hello to the neighbors that we often only talked to on that one night of the year. It felt like community at its best as ironic as that may seem.
So the one thing I want my kids to remember about halloween is not who had the best costume or whether it is right or wrong to participate in halloween festivities, but I want them to remember the simple fun that can be shared by families and their communities.
