A most frightful week

I came to the conclusion that I kind of dislike a holiday. It always makes me a little sad when I hear people say they hate the holidays or "thank God Christmas is over", etc. because I live for the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But...Halloween? Am I a big party pooper to say that it sucked the life out of me?

Finding the costume is what started our downward spiral into the bowels of the Halloween inferno. I used my lunch break to call all around town to find THE Strawberry Shortcake costume Larkyn saw on the Party City commercial and had to have. Have you ever been to Party City? Complete overload of everything. We stopped in after school in the pouring rain and Larkyn turned into a whirling dervish, flitting between the aisle of Disney Princess explosion and Violent bloody horror masks. She was in Heaven. I thought I'd just pick up something "cute and cheap" for Rhys, but I quickly realized that "cheap" at Party City is a $36 lion made out of felt. That's like a week of Chipotle. Anyway, while Larkyn was busy screaming like a howler monkey for me to come see the blood-covered hand coming out of the ground, I gagged my way through picking a $27 clearance velour tiger for my 7 month old and requesting the Strawberry Shortcake with the long pink wig that was sure to make all of Larkyn's dreams come true.

$57 later (plus 16.99 for the damn wig that was NOT included in the costume)...

We are at home, anxiously tearing open packages to try on the Strawberry Shortcake that you would have thought was made of 24 carat gold and diamonds. I knew as soon as I pulled the top over her head...

Commence the screams of desperation..."GET IT OFF!" " I DON'T LIKE IT!!!" Crap. Meanwhile, my sweet little tiger is looking at me to see what happens next. I'll tell you what happens next.

We do what I always do in times of great stress. Go to Target.

My plan?  "Larkyn, we are here to pick out a costume." "I don't want a costume. I want to go home. Oh look, candy. Can I have MMs?" "Yes, if we can get a costume." "I want that one." (points to the first item in her line of sight)...
Ummm. Not happening. I gave her 3 choices: A cute little witch number (my personal fave), Elsa, or Minnie Mouse. She apathetically chose Elsa, and we went home, one of us very happy to get on with life.
This will come as no surprise that the Elsa tiara was sold out worldwide (or at least at my local Target). Soooo, that is the Ariel crown with Ariel ripped off and a snowflake foamy in its place.

From that point until last Sunday, Larkyn could pretty much care less about the costume or Trick or Treat. And I had returned the tiger and the Godforsaken Strawberry Shortcake to Party City. A lightning bolt of creativity struck me one night that Rhys should be Olaf (and no less than 3 of my Instagram "friends" had the same idea). Luckily, my mom is handy and put something very cute together for our little guy. We Trunk-or-Treated at Larkyn's preschool while Rhys stayed home and Larkyn was the only costumed family member. She loved it and was on her best behavior. We should have stopped there.




Remember what I do for a living?  Oh yes, work with small children whose lives are so affected by Halloween that yesterday, one of them declared "I have been waiting for this day my whole LIFE!" as we did our calendar routine. Because society (let's blame "society", shall we?) has moved holidays up so far, my kids began their costumed shenanigans on October 17th. Needless to say, our energy level at school has been...less than ideal. As of Thursday afternoon, I had no costume and no idea what I was going to do about it, since I'd be Trick or treating with my own kids that night. You can't be the kindergarten teacher who doesn't dress up. That would be horrifying.

Anyway, the kids actually suggested I be Sven to go with my Elsa and Olaf. DONE. You guys are awesome. I totally nailed it with all the extra time I have to make costumes.


Don't reindeer do that with their hooves?  The costume consisted of fur on the cuffs of my shirt and around my boots, complemented by Christmas antlers. Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat in our new neighborhood was scheduled for Friday night, which Mother nature also scheduled for a dumping of rain/snow mix. Awesome. So, we went back to our old neighborhood with our old neighbors and had a great time. Both the toddlers had fun running up and getting candy, Larkyn didn't fall, and we didn't have to carry her back over our shoulders at the end. That is what I call a win, folks.






However, all this fun and candy was festering inside of my darling daughter, combining with the pain of a freshly bitten tongue, to turn her into the real Elsa. Only I am Anna, making her put on a pull-up and she is backing into the space between her bed and the wall. The ice could be any number of objects she hurled at me, while I feverishly reminded her of all the FUN things mommy did for her this week. This happened TWICE that night. Once at bedtime, and once an hour later when Rhys cried for 5 seconds for his binky and it woke up the Ice Queen. Oh wait, then also Friday morning when a sock wouldn't fit correctly.


What I am trying to say is....I am glad Halloween is over. I enjoyed the moments of happiness and seeing the kids do "rite of passage" stuff, but man am I looking forward to 364 days without Halloween.

Welcome, November first.


Comments

Nana said…
I am worn out! I don't know how you do it and manage to have your humor in tack. You are my hero! I will be forever in awe of you in your balancing acts.