Halloween Is Coming

Halloween is turning out to be one of our favourite American traditions that we have adopted as our own. After four and a half years we have amassed a decent-sized collection of decorations. Last week I put up the indoor decorations and last weekend we invited the family next door over for a low-key Halloween party/BBQ. The kids dressed up, they played games and had a lot of fun, we had a great meal and it was a really enjoyable afternoon and evening.

N and I really like the spooky stuff that goes with Halloween - dressing up, bats, friendly ghosts, creepy fabric, cobwebs - but none of the horror (and the ensuing nightmares). Even the horror movie ads on TV tend to freak N out so we try not to watch the channels that they're on.

One thing that this blog is missing is some photos! I've taken down a lot of the decorations that I put up for the party and it never occurred to me to take photos - what was I thinking? When October 31 comes I'll try to take some photos and post them here. At least having some text to read is better than nothing at all.

On Monday we'll be dressing up: N is going to be a ghoul (easiest costume ever: a black hood that I've had for more than 10 years, two pieces of dark material and two safety pins. He was stoked with it and it probably cost about $5 all up) and I'm going as a Cirque du Soleil character (OK, maybe there shouldn't be any photos on this blog!). It remains to be seen if P will wear his Jack Sparrow hat (although he did insist on going to two different costume shops last weekend so that he could find a hat that was Jack Sparrow enough) but maybe he'll cave to peer pressure and join us. I'm looking forward to handing out lollies this year in our new neighbourhood and seeing all the kids (and a few "big kids") dressed up in their costumes.

An Interesting Question - What Do You Think?

Should a child who isn't an American citizen have to say the Pledge of Allegiance at school each morning with the other children?