Halloween

As a kid, I loved Halloween. My mom painstakingly crafted our outfits, not because we were poor, but because she thought store bought outfits were tacky. We won many contests. She didn’t sew, and we didn’t have Walmart, but she put together some really cool costumes. The kind we were proud to wear to school in the Halloween parade. Me being crafty myself and able to sew, you would have thought I would follow in my mom’s tradition. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I had three good years of Halloween with my kids. Oh, I tried- trust me. Our house was decorated from top to bottom. Dave did the annual pumpkin carving. I was willing to create any costume within reason. When Molly was one, she had a little Denver Bronco cheerleader outfit. Jake had a jersey and helmet. Perfect. They were adorable and matching. When she was a baby, Jake was a cow. She was a pumpkin, and Dave and I were farmers. We have the perfect neighborhood to trick-or-treat in, a couple of subdivisions with lots of neighbors we know. It was like a fairy tale. Until Molly could voice her opinion. I quickly came to realize the kids didn’t want my homemade costumes when there was a perfectly good Walmart nearby. Anything they wanted, I hated to have to spend money on because it was so horrible. Halloween quickly became a holiday I dreaded. I was never so glad when junior high rolled around, and we were done. When Molly was in kindergarten, she balked at everything. Her classmates were all Disney princesses, but that was a definite no. She probably wanted to be the guy from “Scream”. It got so bad, that when the class party day rolled around, we had nothing. She ended up wearing Old Navy Halloween long johns, a black wig and a witches’ hat. I thought it was cute and acceptable. She still talks about the embarrassment she felt. You brought that on yourself, sister. She doesn’t agree. Jake had been sick for six weeks, and was barely able to go to school and also had nothing. I constructed a mummy costume out of material I already had and long johns. He was too tired to protest. When I put black around his eyes, I was reminded of how sick he’d been. Molly’s 5th grade and last year found us at a stand still again. Her best friend’s mom had bought her daughter a candy corn witch outfit online.  Yes, online was the place to buy costumes, but somehow I’d been out of the loop. They were either sold out or too expensive, but I found myself at the fabric store buying all the materials I would need to craft a candy corn witch outfit. It went together brilliantly. It was adorable and constructed 10x’s better than the store bought one. The girls were adorable. My friend later confessed that she felt embarrassed by how good my outfit was. Molly later confessed how much she hated that outfit. Why couldn’t I have just bought one like Jessica’s? I’m glad she didn’t tell me that until much later. I couldn’t have taken it. I was in my full glory that Halloween. It had been many years since I had outfitted my kids in something I felt proud of…