It's beginning to look a lot like....Halloween!

Casey and Jacob and I were in Cotsco last week when Casey pointed excitedly. "Look!" she cried. "It's the Christmas!" Sure enough, it wasn't yet October 19th and the Christmas marketing had begun.

Thankfully, however, everything else is Pittsburgh is still decorated for Halloween. And I love it. It is my favorite time of year. I think I like it even more than Christmas.

I go nuts during the holidays, a fact for which I can safely blame my parents. My mom decorated for virtually every holiday on the calendar. On Valentines Day my mom put up hearts and put out chocolate candy. On St. Patrick's Day she decorated with shamrocks and leprechauns. On Easter we would get baskets from the Easter bunny and my Grandma Smith sewed matching Easter dresses for me and my little sister. In the spring I made May Day baskets out of construction paper strips, and delivered the baskets filled with flowers to the neighbors. On the Fourth of July we hosted a giant swimming party (we lived on Lake Washington) for all of our friends; my dad would add historical trivia contests and relay races to the food and fireworks.

But the fall/winter holidays were the most exciting. Each year I started planning my Halloween costume during the summer. One year I when I was in fifth grade I lay awake for hours each night, for weeks upon end, trying to figure out how I could create a Halloween costume that looked like a clarinet (which I played in the band). I eventually decided to make a "book worm" costume. I made a green mask for my head, and I wore goofy black glasses and a graduation mortar board. And then my body was encased in a giant cardboard box that I had painted to look like a book. The book was titled, "BOOK WORM."

Yah, I was a giant nerd. Even when I was just eleven years old.

My Grandma Newman did her part, too. She was a seamstress in Helena, Montana, where she worked for a family of sisters by the last name of Moore. The Moores also had a candy shop, and, so, for every holiday my Grandma would send us cardboard containers filled with candy from the Moore's shop. The containers were sturdy little decorations in their own right. There were pumpkin shaped boxes for Halloween, boxes shaped like firecrackers and covered with glitter for the Fourth of July, and boxes in the shape of birds and eggs for Easter. The candy itself was kind of yucky: miniature spiced gumdrops. But the boxes were so sturdy that my mom has passed some of them onto me.

My dad also got into the act. During Halloween and Christmas my dad painted the windows in the living room with holiday scenes. He used tempera paints, and the images were pretty easy to wash off and/or scrape off when the holiday had passed. My dad never involved me in the process, but I was in awe of it. I watched him like I was watching Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel—even though my dad was just painting homey scenes, like kids throwing snowballs, or a scary witch with a green face.

Inspired by this memory of my dad I announced my Halloween decorating plans to Josh.

"I'm going paint our windows for Halloween."

"What?"

"My dad used to paint the windows of our house; I'm going to paint the windows with scary Halloween scenes for Halloween."

"No, you're not."

"What?"

"You are not going to paint the windows. That sounds really messy: going on as well as coming off. I suggest you come up with a different plan."

"Uh, OK. You might have a point."

So, I decided to do black paper silhouettes for the windows. I asked the kids to help me choose different images from a database online, and then I sketched them on paper and cut them out with an exact-o knife. The cutouts look good from inside our apartment, especially during the dawn and twilight hours. At night, from the street, they are lit from behind by the glow our lights. Perhaps a new tradition has been born?

At the same time I have to ask myself: why am I so crazy for the holidays? Is there a line between just making things special, and making a huge mess and spending a lot of money? I often do both! And, while I have fond memories of the way we celebrated holidays when I was child, are my current activities more about me showing off my artistic skill, and less about spending time with my kids? Am I pushing candy on them, needlessly and constantly, throughout the year? I'm not entirely sure!

On the other hand, uh....here's my handiwork. Please admire it! Or tell me that I've gone to far!




I also made Halloween cookies for an afternoon during which Jacob and I were entertaining 2 other Linden kindergarten homeroom moms and their kids. Jacob and I made the dough. Then I rolled, cut and baked the cookies. Then I frosted all of them green. Then Josh, Casey, Jacob and I decorated them with little tubes of thin frosting, candy corn, and black licorice. My favorite designs were made by Josh! (Hint: he made the snake cookie and the spider cookie, below!)


I come from a significant familial network of sicko holiday fanatics. Here are the Halloween hair clips and mini bags of m-n-m's that "fun" Aunt Cindy sent!



Finally, my holiday aesthetic has been successfully transmitted to at least one of my children. I came back from my trip to Madison to find this cute paper pumpkin on the wall. Jacob made it at school. It's so darling and whimsical! It's going to go in our permanent Halloween collection for sure! Any suggestions on how to keep the construction paper from fading?