A Hodge Podge Halloween

As October days passed quickly, Nathanael and I were faced with the question of Halloween: to do or not to do. Growing up, my family always carved pumpkins, dressed up and trick-or-treated through the neighborhood. I have very fond memories of planning elaborate costumes and parading through the hallways of Howe Elementary on Halloween--even winning the most creative costume award one year as a California grape (remember those?). We were never allowed to dress up as witches or wizards or anything scary. Nathanael never celebrated Halloween in Brazil, and he didn't really feel the need to start celebrating it now. Neither of us was all that determined to fight it out on the subject.

One thing we did agree on was the affect of grotesque or scary images on the boys. We had already dealt with some questions and fears spawned by seeing decorations in stores (thanks a lot, Walgreens) and on houses in the neighborhood. Why run the risk of the boys seeing something disturbing? And so we chose a middle road that was agreeable to both of us--a fun celebration with the cousins that, in the end, may have been more disturbing than Halloween itself:).

I'm not sure any amount of narrative could tie the bizarre events of our celebration together, so here's a very brief summary: Ethan transformed his monk costume into knight attire, and Micah dressed as a cowboy. We went over to the cousins where we ate hot dogs and broccoli, stuffed a Santa Claus pinata with dairy and turmeric-free candy, had a visit from Nacho Libre, roasted marshmallows, "smoked" Hobbit pipes, and listened to Katherine and Nathanael sing Bible camp songs in English and Portuguese. I joined in on "It Only Takes a Spark." Here are the pics:

P.S. The picture at the top of the post is a mysterious pumpkin that showed up at our door late one night. The doorbell rang, and when we opened it, our pumpkin was missing and the spider pumpkin sat all aglow in its place. Halloween hijinks!