You know that Blogtoberfest is over when it takes me thirteen days to get around to writing about our Halloween celebrations.Yes, Halloween is over, the decorations are packed away and all the lollies have been eaten, but I still wanted to write this post. What stuck me most about this Halloween was the community spirit that I found - Right here under my nose!
I know that there are mixed feelings about Halloween, "too commercial" "so American" were expressions I heard leading up to Halloween. But as I mother, I found this night to be an amazing opportunity for my children to dress up and have fun. They joined their friends and met some of our nearest neighbours for the first time. What other time of the year do they get to do that? There are no longer fancy dress balls (the highlight of my primary school years) or street festivals. We are lucky that our small local Christmas Carols are growing bigger each year, but when I was a child we we closed the street and had a good old fashioned street carnival with rides, turkey raffles and the freedom to join friends and run around eating food you usually weren't allowed to eat.
Just a few weeks ago, while at a play date, I wondered out loud, if anyone else found it hard to feel part of a community in the area that we lived. It was unanimous. Everyone at the table said that this was the first year that they had even started to make any friends (I have felt that way too) I have lived here for seven years, others have lived in the area for 11 and 14 years!
As I walked around with the children and the other mum's, that I am just starting to get to know, I realised that this is what we all needed. The mums, the kids, our community. We live in a world of closed doors. I have only spoken to my neighbour twice in a year. When he moved in, we approached him in the driveway to introduce ourselves and I think he got the shock of his life. I discovered so many lovely, giving people, happily greeting the kids at the doors with bowls full of lollies and chocolates. For the first time in a long time, I felt, on that night, part of a community. And it was all good.
Who really cares what Halloween means anyway!
The day before Halloween, in between a doctors appointment and a teachers interview, I made a quick stop at Sam's Warehouse (some days, somethings got to give) Without too much thought I bought 2 x $1.00 red (plastic) capes. The initial costume requests were a red devil with a tulle skirt and wings and a zombie covered with snakes and spiders, I was grateful to find the kids very adaptable in the costume department. They were happy: it was Halloween and they would be joining their friends for trick or treating. That was really all that mattered.
Anyway, they thought they looked pretty scary.
On Halloween morning, before yet another appointment with the school, I cooked bat wings (chicken wings) and goblin face pies served with blood (tomato sauce). Because we would be trick or treating this year I was playing down the spooky food. Instead of our usual feast, it was to be a snack, eaten after our trick or treating. Also on the menu, was moldy cheese, deep fried mice brains (popcorn) and witches wee (orange juice)
Spunky Monkey had two of his friends join us at the house, with arrangements made to meet Miss Moo Moo's friends down the road. Her prep class was right into it, a few of them had done the spooky food parties, just like us, last year and the year before.
Trick or treating was straight away FUN!
And it just got better.
Our small group of 5 set off, knocking on door after door without fear. Everyone one was so receptive. With the trick or treat bags starting to get full we caught up with Miss Moo Moo's friends about half and hour later. Our group of 5 turned into about 25 kids. Pure chaos, but of the very best kind.
We walked a few more streets and then we turned into our street, I was laughing at the spectacle of it all, then I turned and looked behind me.
Oh my - where was I?
Our street had been transformed into a Halloween Street Festival.
Ghosts, skeletons, goblins, witches, devils, ghouls, pumpkin heads, monsters, dead princesses, black cats and superhero's blocked the road, darting this this way and that, from this house to that and the next and the next. There were squeals and laughter and happy chatter. So many friendly faces happily opening there doors and getting into the fun of it all. Mums, dad's, grandparents and babies.
As we got closer to home, we discovered a few friends had even transformed there garages into spooky Halloween caves! After an hour and a half it was time to call it quits. It was hard work getting our kids inside and leaving such a festive atmosphere.
Back at home, the craziness continued, Spunky Monkeys friends stayed, but it was only the parents who ate anything. Heaps of scary people came to our door to collect their treats, until we ran out, I turned of the lights and shut the door at 9:00pm. We walked outside to say goodnight to our guests, there was a few stragglers in the street, mainly teenagers, have you ever seen a mummy on a skateboard? After waving goodbye, I turned and saw the moon. It was full, with an eerie yellow glow that I hadn't seen before. It was the most perfect Halloween moon. I stood for a while on the front lawn staring, I half expected to see the silhouette of a witch on a broomstick pass before it.
But alas... one never did.
