High Holy Days of Halloween

Lucky us.

Seeing that Halloween was on a Saturday this year, this allowed the fun to begin the weekend before, stretching all Hallows Eve and its many accompanying activities out over the course of 7 days. And being the known worshipers that we are, the kids and I enjoyed taking full advantage of every opportunity to celebrate as one of the faithful. I enjoyed Halloween when I was a kid, which is in part why I think I enjoy it so much now that I have kids of my own. What could be better than being able to relive the highlights of my own childhood year after year, all while making new memories and traditions with my own kids?

Pete, for the most part, is merely tolerant of it all.

But for the rest of us, a whole week of Halloween celebration was as good as it gets!

A giant pumpkin floating over the Costco parking lot?

Must be Halloween in OC.

Friday night, one week before: Pete and I attend a friend's

annual Halloween party in costume.

These jumpsuits, their purchase from a roadside

vendor in Thailand all those years ago inspired by

Dignon's Lawn Wrangler uniform in Bottle Rocket,

become yet another version of a Halloween costume.

Closest to their original purpose perhaps than any other,

Peter and I go as Korean factory workers,

from Hyndai and Samsung respectively.

(click photo for the logo close-up)

Can you guess this superstar costume?

It's my friend, Mary Katherine Gallagher!

I loved that she dressed up in this costume, as not only was she

great at recreating scenes from the life of MKG,

but it also afforded me the opportunity of telling

everyone at the party (who would listen)

about the time I actually saw Molly Shannon one

sunday morning walking the streets of NYC with friends,

and I waved at her, then gave her the superstar! complete

with double peace signs.

As this was probably circa 1996-97 the SNL character was still

fairly new, and Molly Shannon seemed pleased at the recognition

and nodded and smiled back at me with approval.

The saturday before Halloween was La Madera's annual fall carnival.

For reasons still yet to be determined, the theme for the

weekend-before-Halloween carnival this year was....The Wild West!

Henry however kept up the spirit of the season with his

contribution to the class booth's horseshoe throw decoration -

while the ponies surrounding his were decorated with hearts, stars and

colorful elf boots he determined that his pony was an evil

pony, complete with red eyes and plenty of angry inner demons.

From the carnival that afternoon we headed over to Sue's house to

see Taylor and Carrie before they departed for Sydney later that

evening. We were also expected at the ward Trunk-or-Treat shortly

thereafter so we took the opportunity to get dressed and ready

while still hanging with our cousin.

Henry has known for quite some time what he would

be for Halloween this year. He's never seen The Dark Knight

but he has seen posters and commercials of Heath Ledger's

Joker. Due in part to that and to the Lego Batman

Joker character, that is who Henry wanted to be.

Thanks to some hair color, face paint, and a hand-me-down

purple Yu-Gi-Oh costume from our friend Mark,

The Joker was born.

Jed's costume was an Army man.

And truthfully, since his performance here,

he's not really had any other choice.

But thanks to the nifty army helmet I bought,

and a giant borrowed gun (thanks again, Mark!)

Jed was perfectly happy with this costume.

Here's the boys and Pete at the ward Trunk-o-Treat.

Pete reverted to the blue jumpsuit here because Jack

was wearing the orange one for his costume as an escaped

chain gang convict. There's a photo from Halloween night

of him coming up at the end...

A full view of the Joker

Harriet and her friend created their own colorful costumes.

Brother Dunn, first counselor in our bishopric.

Who knew that under those suit coats at church

lurked an awesome set of tattoo sleeves?!

Sunday before Halloween: FHE activity with our friends the Snyders,

constructing haunted houses out of graham crackers and

frosting, and then decorating them with all kinds of

treats and tricks.

creative workspace

Scott and Jack

spooky faces and spooky places

(can click photo for details)

Friday before Halloween: School party

More creativity at Jed's class Halloween party:

making bookmarks and

decorating cookies

HALLOWEEN DAY!

It's a warm sunny day in South Orange County on October 31st, and the

morning is busy like any other fall saturday morning with

multiple soccer games to attend and chores to complete.

But, the afternoon and evening belong to Halloween!

Costume get-ups started around 4:30, as there were

some pre-trick-or-treating meals and fun to be had.

Lt. Jed, fully armed

(but opting for the more subtle face cover-up)

The Joker, with his signature calling card

This year, for the first time, our family split up for Halloween.

Harriet and Pete headed over to the Coe's

for their smashing neighborhood party ,

while Jed, Henry and I went to spend the evening

with a school friend of Henry's whose family invited

us to come over for dinner before the "show"

The boys had a great time playing around in

their costumes before dinner -

Joker, Indiana Jones, and two army buddies

Joker and his crew at his hideaway

planning the next big heist

When its dark enough, we hit the streets

terrorizing the locals

and planning escapes

Trick-or-Treat!

Grown up goodies for us moms while the kids

sort through their loot

Jack spent the evening in another neighborhood

with some of his friends from school, as a convict

from the chain gang with an orange jumpsuit,

broken chain around his ankle, and his trusty sledgehammer.

So, all in all another Halloween ritual

has come and been completed.

Everyone had a safe, fun time,

and we were all home by 9:00 p.m.

and the best part of all, thanks to the return to

PST, was an extra hour of sleep that night.