whoooooo - the ghost of halloween past - whoooooo

She's a baker, the michelin man, the grand wizard. No, of course not, she's clearly (more or less) a ghost. However, she was supposed to be a pink poodle. Just before storytime at the library, Scott put her in her costume while I ran to get my drug screen for my new position with the city. Surprise (not really), surprise, a child of mine is allergic to her costume, soap, lotion, detergent, cosmetics, the air. She broke out into a tasteful - not too showy - rash, a (perhaps) subconscious revolt against the cheesy cookie-cutter costume being foisted upon her.

My husband, Speedy Scotty MaHotty, quick thinking, quick moving, quick eating, quick with a joke or to light up your smoke, whipped up this costume out of a pillowcase and several pieces of tissue paper in less than 15 minutes. She wore it all day yesterday and again all day today. She and three other kids at storytime (one of whom was not Conner) were the only ones in homemade costumes.

By evening, she'd added a jaunty pair of Christmas socks to the ensemble, showing a dash of her parents' flair for the funk-a-delic, baby. You can see them better if you click on the picture below. You can also see my FIL, sporting the very same pair of earphones he wore for Easter dinner, last Christmas, and many another warm family holiday. Conner was thrilled with them, madly pushing buttons and twirling knobs every time he lifted her up, as Maryn was thrilled with them at Easter when he told her they were magic egg detectors.

You can also see our next door neighbor, one of the very few who had a light on for the neighborhood kids, of which there were even fewer this year than there were last year.

And here is little Conner, the lady bug. She was absolutely adorable, but the camera was feeling quirky so our pictures almost all came out blurry.

When I was a child, the whole neighborhood turned out for Halloween. I remember one house in the 3 or 4 block radius where we trick-or-treated that didn't have a light on. Almost all of our costumes were homemade - and they were GOOD! It was a wonderful holiday - as was Christmas when we went carolling. I have no idea how I'm going to recreate a village for my children....