Life: Idiotropic

I am still recovering from Halloween. Here I am in a country that is just beginning to learn what Halloween is, and we are celebrating it bigger than ever. May be it is a way for the Americans and Canadians to stick together and preserve a bit of our identity over here. We are a very small population and each day that goes by reminds me just how few we are here.

Europeans have learned about American culture and holidays like Halloween from American movies and television (frightening, isn't it?), so they're slowly picking up on Halloween too - another reason to have a party, and, for the businesses, more stuff to sell. There aren't costumes in all the stores like there are in the states, but the larger towns have Carnival shops - elaborate costume shops geared for the Carnival festivals, so they just get a bunch of creepy stuff in and call it Halloween. Pumpkins are sold everywhere (obvious from past posts) and Germans are buying them and decorating with them, but they don't yet carve the jack'o lanterns. The German idea of Halloween is the scary part of it. I don't like the scary stuff - my kids are always cute or pretty - or, at least, harmless. They are not witches or ghouls. Here, Halloween is only about being scared. The German kids came to my door last night only as witches, ghosts, and that "Scream" person. At the German kindergarten, they had the gym decorated like a graveyard and all the German kids dressed in black - no princesses or Disney characters there at all! Even German adults were dressed all in black with very graphic makeup on their faces. The Dutch and Spanish that I talked to didn't celebrate Halloween this year and have said that it is still starting very slowly in their countries. In Belgium it's also beginning very slowly. The Italians here had a huge party for their kids though - and they were mostly creepy things too -witches and bats.

My kids don't want to be creepy. They want to be pretty. Luci still thinks that she's going to grow up to be a princess. I had, initially, three princesses and a non-cow, meaning a potential cow who would not wear her cute little hat, her spotted poncho, or any sort of face-paint. In past years I've taken the kids trick-or-treating around the block and that has been about the extent of it. They always end up with much more candy than they need. I just enjoy seeing them in their costumes and taking pictures. The candy is the motivator for them to endure those costumes and keep smiling for the 50th photograph.
This year was different. I baked for all three older girl's classes. Luci's class had a party in the morning with a good amount of healthy food and twice as much junk food. I had to pick her up early. They had just finished painting pumpkins (so hers wasn't yet dry and got all over Elise's white sweater, so she was a Rastafarian cow), and were all in a group dancing. We walked over to Arianna's school to help her into her costume and walk with her class in the "Storybook Parade." That is the school's way of letting the kids trick-or-treat during class time. So, our costumed little ones with bags in hand walked over half of the base from office building to office building saying the well-reahearsed "Happy Halloween and thank you" to all who gave them candy. Most of the buildings just handed out candy at the front door, but several had decorated hallways that the children walked through and one in particular got quite elaborate with witches and scary music, so my tiny ones went in, but Arianna waited for me outside.
Since Elise didn't want to wear her poncho or cow hat, so she didn't look like anything other than a well-bundled toddler. I didn't give her a bag, so she was just along for the ride, but she did ok. Luci and Arianna both walked excited to go from building to building collecting treats. It was fun for them to be with friends. After the parade was the big party in Arianna's class that lasted until school's end. Then ballet for Luci and our first of three parties.

The Wilson's did a fantastic job with games and crafts for the kids, lots of creepy props, and tons of food. Elise was scared of the singing skull at first, but got over it quickly and spent 40 minutes standing next to him moving around to make him sing - again and again. The kids ate there and we hurried home to meet Kirk and Tiara and head out of neighborhood trick-or-treating. A group of about 35 American and Canadian kids came by just before we left, then we got a few German kids saying, "susses oder es gibt saures" meaning, "give sweet or give sour."

[I'd said that I began Halloween with 3 princesses and a non-cow... then half-way through I ended up with a 50's girl and a ballerina instead. Arianna remained "Cinderella," but Tiara, who'd worn my costume at school in the parade, became a 50's girl, and Luci decided to stay in the ballet clothes after class and just be a ballerina. My non-cow turned Rastafarian non-cow quickly transtioned to a chocolate-covered Rastafarian non-cow.]

A friend of mine made a map of all the houses that were participating (which were probably more than 30). We just walked a little. It was cold and we'd been heavily misted on earlier, so I wasn't up for a big trip - and we certainly didn't need the sweets. After a few houses we ended up at party #2 where we stayed for an hour or so visiting. That party was hilarious because a very young Superman that had run into Kirk earlier in the night, was there, and he believed, wholeheartedly just as a child might believe in Santa Clause, that Kirk was Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of The Caribbean. So most of the time we were at the party, little Superman followed Kirk around calling him Captain Jack and trying to convince him to go downstairs and hang out with all the other kids. At 8 we all went home to get the kids settled, then Kirk and I went to party #3 - the adults-only party.

It was hosted by some friends and held in an old farmhouse. The living quarters are only on one side of the large complex. They set up the party entrance over on the side of the building where the old milking sheds were. The room was long and narrow flanked on either side by old green stalls where the cows were milked. They had candles lined up along the sides to light the way and all sorts of cobwebs and creepy things hanging above. That room led into the huge courtyard - about 4 times the size of ours. It was decorated as well and all the party guests were outside - huddled around a large iron fire pit. It was nice to be out, but a bit cold to be sitting outside. That was the end of our Halloween. Sitting in the misty cold rain around a fire with friends.