after some consideration, i have concluded that the only feasible way for me to recount the past few weeks is by starting with halloween. for as a chronological account would read more smoothly, it would ultimately lead to my posting halloween pictures sometime in mid-november. and if i must choose between giving precedence to the tales of my aimless wanderings in southeast asia or pictures of fructose strung out children in fluffy animal costumes, well, let it not be said that i don't give the followers of this blog what they want. of course, our initial plans had included a trip to norman, oklahoma for a third annual halloween visit to our good friends and loyal crimson sooners, the castillos. although our travel prospects looked very good leading into the holiday, the view from our front yard on october 29th looked something like this...
at the close of the day, a final flight into oklahoma city was cancelled, rolling disgruntled travelers over to the following day's flights, and dashing our hopes for an oklahoma christmas. "but will," you say, "halloween's festivities don't begin until the evening. you still have the better part of the 31st to make it out to norman and have no less to show for it." not so, as the city of norman, in deference to an october 31st ou sooners football game, had officially mandated that trick-or-treating be observed on the evening of the 30th.
well, it was either that, or set the world record for most "please take one" candy bowls set out within a single community.
we sulked for around 24 hours, (reference the above picture) then set out to pick up the scattered pieces of our shattered holiday, finding that while oklahoma was of the table, we could still make it out to visit the kids' cousins in phoenix... phoenix!!! (again, reference the above.) so, throwing the costumes in a bag, we pulled into town just in time to make the festivities.
we had opted this year to have eli's costume made by 5¢/hour filipino children commissioned through target and sold at a roughly 1,000% mark up. he had expressed enthusiasm over a dragon costume, which he had become interested in after he and pen watched sleeping beauty at grandma's house. (a movie, which aside from making very little sense, perpetuates about every misogynistic stereotype you hope never to expose your daughter to. as an example, on the day of her birth, three fairies are able to bless princess aurora with one gift each. so what would you grant a future sovereign of a vast kingdom? overwhelming compassion towards her subjects? a functional understanding of political affairs? aptitude for foreign diplomacy? no. first fairy up to bat grants her physical beauty. number two- musical inclination. the third fairy is interrupted before she can bestow her planned gift, but we can only assume it has something to do with "d" cups.) although eli was certain it was a dragon costume, it more closely resembled a tyrannosaurus rex. this, however, was not the most puzzling element of the costume. it is unclear whether eli is supposed to be riding the animal, (in which case, where are eli's legs?) or whether he is actually supposed to be the creature itself. (in which case, why is there a boy growing out of his back? the costume as i see it, is a sort of dino-dragon centaur with two heads, although, i can't imagine there is a strong market for such a thing.
penelope's costume was designed by grandma, and in order to satiate her personal tastes, i requested only that it be the most gaudy and sickeningly pink princess dress possible. (hey, isn't this the same guy who was talking about misogynistic stereotypes?) to say grandma knocked it out of the park would be an understatement. the result was an absolutely hideous garment which penelope will wear every day until it fits like a mini-skirt.
lucia was a bit tougher. we thought we had done well on a cute, if hackneyed "furry jumper/ baby's face through the neck-hole" magical unicorn. whether it was the fit, the awkward head-piece, or the general indignity of it, she was less than cooperative when it came time to wear the said costume...
looking to throw together a last minute ensemble for the little one, kelley grabbed a tutu from cousin mary's dress-up box, which lucia donned not only with acceptance, but surprising enthusiasm. on seeing this, aunt anne scrounged up a crown and a starry scepter which lucia received with delight. as it turned out, she just wanted to be as elegant and womanly as her sister, pen. (you saw the picture.)
while halloween is largely seen as a holiday for either small children or alcoholic adults of poor moral fiber, kelley and i were able to parlay the kids' enthusiasm to our advantage. since we only let the kids eat a couple of pieces of candy, everything they do after about three houses is basically slave labor. dividing the spoils is no trouble either- kelley takes the almond joys and i get the laffy taffies.
(the kids were joined by cousins mary the mermaid and skeleton sammy. lucia proudly displays the costume she worked so hard to get.)
2 comments:
It cracks me up that Lucia wouldn't wear the unicorn. And I wish there were a picture of Pen's hat. I thought that was the icing on the cake.
There was a HAT?
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