Today was Halloween down under. Well, today was 31 October down here and, for us Americans (and a few others), that means Halloween. We all have ideas of what Halloween is like and how it should be. We have traditions we follow each year, Halloween celebrations we attend and special foods we eat.
When I think about Halloween I smell fallen leaves, a fire burning in the fireplace and pumpkins that have been sitting out in the elements for days. I see the colours orange and black, pumpkins and Jack-o-lanterns a-plenty, children dressed in costume toting bags of candy, families walking together with only a flashlight and glowing pumpkins to light the way and people opening their front doors to children shouting, "Trick-or-Treat!" I feel the cool, crisp, damp, PNW weather that chilled me to the bone and made me so glad to return to the warmth of home. And finally, I remember the sheer excitement and anticipation that filled the air on Halloween night.
So, when I think about Halloween these are the things I expect to see, hear, feel and smell. And when October 31st rolled around down here it was in a bit of shock because it was not at all like it was supposed to be....
The weather was in the mid-70s, the sun was shining, parents were smothering their children with sunscreen and nagging them to put on their hats. People were going about their daily business as if today was just any day. They were dressed in shorts and t-shirts and many of them were lounging in the sun at local parks. There were no pumpkins sitting on doorsteps or in shop windows. The grocery store isles were not lined with bags and bags of candy and other Halloween goodies. There were no freaky monsters and ghosts hanging from the ceilings in the local pharmacy (like Walgreens or Bartells). There were no "day of" Halloween sales. There was no chill in the air and the smells of blooming flowers filled the air instead of rotting leaves. This is what Halloween was like down here.
I had big plans for Halloween. I was going to make our first Halloween here the best AU has ever seen, but reality soon hit and I realised that wasn't possible. I did my best to make it a fun and memorable day. The boys wore their festive Halloween shirts and we delivered some candy corn to friends. We ate some Halloween treats and played with orange and black playdough. We read some Halloween stories and played a Halloween dice game I made for the occasion. We even had some friends stop by to share in the fun. It wasn't the most amazing Halloween, but it didn't suck either. :)
I guess, on the bright side, we have not eaten several bags of Halloween chocolates that were meant for the Trick-or-Treaters. There was no bribing, begging and pleading with the boys to wear that costume for "just one picture." There was no one knocking loudly on our door after the kids were tucked into bed for the night. There will no be begging for candy every fifteen minutes for the next three weeks. I have no Jack-o-lantern that will sit on our front porch until it is rotten and stinky. And, there is no post-Halloween "clean-up."
So Halloween was a different experience this year- not what I expected, but still full of friends, food and fun. Maybe next year I will create that amazing Halloween down under that I hoped for. Or, maybe, what we did this year will be enough and it will become our new Halloween tradition down under.
