Samhain

Yesterday we celebrated Samhain ("Sow-en"), a.k.a. Halloween with the kids. While Samhain is generally seen as a holiday to honor and remember the dead, we didn't really take that angle this year (though I hope to in the future). Instead, we focused mainly on the fact that we are entering the dark time of year and the end of the harvest season. The pumpkins are one of the last vegetables to be harvested, and we turn them into lanterns to help light up the dark nights. Lena, Lukas, Jasper and I each carved a pumpkin. We had a great, gooey time of it.

And the final results were pretty fabulous:

Lukas' Lantern

Jasper's Lantern

Lena's Lantern

My Lantern

All of the pumpkin lanterns looked especially great once it got really dark out.

We also celebrated in the more traditional, American culture way, by getting dressed up and going trick-or-treating. The kids' ideas about what they want to "be" for Halloween often fluctuate right up until the actual day. Two years ago, Lukas was going to be a shark, but then decided that his shark costume was too scary, and instead dressed as a lion, but told everyone that he was "actually a worm." So I have never taken it upon myself to invest huge amounts of time in crafting any costumes, lest they end up being rejected at the last minute. My mother, however, was an amazing costume maker throughout my childhood (my personal favorite is the "Baubled, Bangled Christmas Tree" (from "Chicken Soup With Rice") costume that she made for my then five-year-old little sister), and luckily for the kids, she maintains an excellent collection of Halloween costumes to this day. So, a few days ago, we sent Luke and Jaz over to Nama's basement to figure out what they wanted to wear on Halloween. Their choices ended up being incredibly well-suited for their personalities. Jaz dressed up as a clown (my mom sewed him some last-minute clown pants, but everything else was found in the basement), and Lukas was Zorro (not that he really knows who "Zorro" is, but we decided that his "cowboy" costume looked more like a "Zorro" costume, and Luke went with that). Zeb wore his (store-bought) rooster costume from last year. He actually didn't get to wear it last year since he wasn't quite walking yet then (which is just so hard to believe given the hopping, skipping, running person that he is today). We went into town where all of the shops do trick-or-treating for kids from 3-6 p.m. We do this every year, and we love how it's still light out (so all costumes are visible), and the crowds make for some really fun energy.
Getting done with trick-or-treating before 6:00 means that there's plenty of time for a special dinner before bedtime. Luke and Jaz were hoping to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters at our house (and I like the balance of them getting to take, take, take and then give, give, give), but we only got one knock at the door here in our new neighborhood. Bummer! So there was lots of candy leftover for the boys to leave for the Halloween Fairy.

The Halloween Fairy is a game we play . . . the kids leave out their bags of loot and the Halloween Fairy comes while they're sleeping, takes the candy, and leaves behind a gift for each child. This is our solution to the fact that we really don't want our kids eating any of the junk that they bring home, and so far it's working out quite well for us all. This year the fairy left each of the kids a book, which sounds especially dreadful (trade your candy in for a . . . book!), but this was what the kids requested, and they were all quite pleased this morning.

Tonight we change the clocks back to standard time (daylight saving time having come to an end), and the dark season begins in earnest. Soon we will begin our celebration of the winter solstice, finding whatever ways we can to bring warmth and light to this dark, cold time of year.