RHYS On HALLOWEEN

 RHYS BOWEN:  I confess, I’m in grumpy mood.  I am not a big fan of fall. To me it means the coming of winter, darker, shorter days. Less time spent outdoors. And pumpkin spice. I am also not a big fan of pumpkin spice although the world seems to be obsessed with it. I even saw an ad for a pumpkin-spice cosmetic serum today!  I’d rather put mud from the backyard on my face.

And my next confession: I’m not a big fan of Halloween. I suppose I didn’t grow up with it and I can see that little kids think it’s wonderful to dress up in scary clothes and get candy from everyone. When I was a child in England there was no such thing as Halloween. I think they always celebrated it in Scotland but I knew nothing of it until my first year in the US. I had recently moved into our first house, just had a baby and… there was a knock on my door one evening, shortly after dark.  I opened it AND there was a child dressed as a black cat standing there. “Trick or treat” she said.  I had no idea what she meant.  She had to explain that I was supposed to give her candy.  I had to search my purse for some quarters instead.

When I think back to my own kids and Halloween I loved the early years when they were happy with store-bought costumes: princess, witch, pirate. Then came the creative years. One year Clare wanted to be a tree. Do you know how hard it is to make a tree in which a child can breathe and move?  And one year one of them wanted to be a dragon. How to attach the tail so it didn’t fall off when they walked? Much late night sewing involved.

After that the scary years: costumes with fangs and dripping blood. Not my thing. But by then they were old enough to go trick or treating alone.  But who had to carve the pumpkins? That's hard work, folks.

And every year there was the triumphant return, the tipping out of candy for mommy to inspect and toss out anything that looked suspect. Then they were allowed to choose a few pieces to eat and the rest went into the pantry where it was soon forgotten and eventually tossed out.

I don’t think we ever got wholeheartedly into the thing, making bowls of fake eyeballs or spaghetti-guts the way some families did. Perhaps I am a person who scares too easily.

I’ve been to a few adult Halloween parties but never came up with brilliant costumes like Hank and Jonathan. Only one sticks in my mind. John had a dark beard at the time so we went as the devil and a fallen angel. We got lost on the way in a dark and leafy neighborhood and stopped a group of teenagers to ask for directions. A boy was happily pointing us in the right direction when he noticed John.  “You’ve got horns” he said in an alarmed voice.

                “Yes, of course. I’m the devil,” John replied as we drove off. That was fun!

So how about you? Did you enjoy Halloween as a child? Do you still enjoy it?  And what about Pumpkin Spice????

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Aw, thank you, Rhys!  I really remember being a princess, and my mother made a pointy hat out of silver cardboard, and put a pink scarf in the point so it floated down the back. Then I had a pink shower curtain as a cape. I’m telling you, I pranced around the house in that outfit for weeks. It was the perfect princess outfit. As an adult, I once dressed up as a teabag, in brown leotard and tights,  and put a clear plastic bag from my knees up to my chin. Then I filled it with scraps of torn up construction paper (brown, orange and black,) and then  tied a string around my neck and hooked a big Constant Comment tag at the bottom. It was pretty funny. ( I don’t think any pictures exist :-)  Thank goodness.)

Then there was the year when Jonathan and I dressed up as the Arcs, Joan of and Noah. Pretty funny. (Some people have no idea what I meant by this. I think I am hilarious, but maybe it’s just me.)

Pumpkin spice? Hard no. To all. Except pie. But that’s another blog.

LUCY BURDETTE: No pumpkin spice for me either! So funny you’d rather put mud on your face than ps serum, Rhys! I have been enjoying fall in New England–, the cooler weather, the colors, the earlier nights. Until I went to the acupuncturist and he said: “Fall always brings us around to death, doesn’t it?” Yikes, I suppose but I hate to think of that!

I do enjoy dressing up too–especially for an occasion like our previous Crime Bake banquets. Though I have to say I think Hank and Jonathan won EVERY ONE OF THOSE CONTESTS. Still, it was fun to think up a costume and know it would be appreciated by all those creative friends.

JENN McKINLAY: I LOVE FALL!!! AND PUMPKIN SPICE!!! AND HALLOWEEN!!! Potentially, it’s because my well known immaturity really gets to shine during this season. Also, I grew up in the mountains of CT, where it was apple picking, pumpkin carving, and gorgeous colorful leaves dropping to the ground like autumn confetti. Glorious! What was it Anne of Green Gables says? “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers” or something like that. That’s me. 

I love the dressing up and the passing out of candy and spookifying the house. My fave memory was when the Hooligans went trick or treating on their own for the first time - H1 was death (black cloak and scythe) and H2 was a crash test dummy (you know, the yellow mannequin thingy) - anyway, I made H1 carry my cell phone as they didn’t have their own phones yet and when they were roaming the streets trying to be scary I called them from the landline to check on them and the cell phone piped up with its ringtone “Here Comes the Sun”. *snort*  H1 reported that I killed their creepy vibe. LOL. 

And Rhys the way you recall all of those Halloweens with your littles  - I can tell you had a blast :)  

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Fall is one of my favorite seasons. I suspect you’d feel differently about it if you lived in New England, Rhys - the spectacular color on century-old trees, the amazing blue sky that only occurs this month, the perfect (in my view) temperatures - crisp and chill in the morning, pleasantly warm in the afternoon.

However, I’ve never gone all-out for Halloween. Honestly, I’m don’t really decorate for any holiday other than Christmas. So I get a few pumpkins (they were carved when the kids were young) and set a couple candles in hurricane lanterns on the porch and call it good. What I did do was make home-sewn costumes, which then evolved into costumes created from our vast, three-trunk store of dress up clothes and accessories. Leopard, witch, Batman, Glamor Witch (that was the Maine Millennial, of course) Roman centurion (reused for the church Nativity pageant!) Old King Cole, sailor (that was prescient) and several princesses. I have no digital copies of any of these, so instead I’ll share a pic of Youngest and her Shih Tzu wearing matching Halloween costumes/jammies. 

HALLIE EPHRON: I love almost everything about Halloween… except pumpkin spice. My neighbors on both sides decorate to beat the bands. This year our neighborhood has sprouted plastic blow-up tableaus with ghosts and dragons and pumpkins. I love it when little kids show up at the door in their costumes.

Pumpkin carving–or watching Jerry carve a pumpkin–was always a special treat. The faces he carved were nothing short of amazing.

For some reason (maybe I was too cheap) I would not buy store-bought costumes for my kids. They claim this caused a major trauma. A homemade Superman outfit did not compare with her classmates whose parents had bought theirs, but we managed a pretty good witch.

 

As adults my daughters make fantastic costumes from almost nothing. One year one of them went as Cher in her TURN BACK TIME video. I leave it to your imagination. I can’t wait to see this year’s get-ups..

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm afraid I've always been a bit of a Halloween fail. My mother didn't make costumes so I had store-bought as a child. I didn't do much better by my own daughter, but thankfully she's broken that tradition and my granddaughter has had wonderful costumes. I can't wait to see this year's! 

 

I do like decorating for fall but skipped it this year, with spending almost the whole of October in the UK. I'm glad not to have to worry about disposing of the pumpkins!

 

Lots of Halloween decorations in London, however! Here's a wonderful house on Tite Street in Chelsea.

RHYS: Great pix everyone. So who is a fan of Halloween? Of pumpkin spice?