Sunday, October 19, 2014

All things scary

Well, we got the official word.  We are approved!! This is such big news for our journey of adopting.  All we have to do now is sit and wait for an amazing birth family to pick us to raise their child.
This news kick started one our favorite holiday seasons: Halloween.
When I was a kid, I remember dressing up in anything my parents would come up with. This was both entertaining and humiliating at times.  See, we didn't have the luxury of always having those beautiful store bought costumes (you know the ones that fall apart half way through the one night of wearing them.) One year we went as christmas presents. No joke; a christmas wrapped box with arm, leg and head holes cut out. It was not so popular at the time, but looking back, my parents were extreamly creative.
Having this background of coming up with not only unique costumes, but also unique traditions on how to celebrate such a holiday, came in very handy when I met and married into the Berry family.  Little did I know nobody could do Halloween like this family.  Complete with family parties and trick or treating at some of the best locations that have been tried and true. But they were beyond creative for costumes and display.  There was no age limit to dressing up and all were encouraged. We would party until late into the night playing games and watching Halloween classics.
As Mike and I have moved out of California, there are so many different traditions we are able to explore, make, and try.
Last year, Mike and I were both trying to balance a schedule working retail at Cabela's so a lot of our usual traditions, as well as decorating, fell a little short.  I think we made up for it the day of this joyous holiday. We went to Mike's oldest brother's house.  We trick or treated with our nieces and were joined by my sister and her kids.  We had so much fun running around the neighborhood with the kids.  We skipped, laughed, and even played tricks.  We concluded our evening by settling in with our loot of candy we all collected and watched some Halloween movie classics.
This year we have settled into regular schedules.  This made it easier to do some of our traditions throughout the month like plan if our house should be decorated scary or fun.  Also, what kind of Halloween movies to watch through the month. This year we have chosen all things horror, with a mixture of some of our go to favorites: Clue, Nightmare Before Christmas, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. As we dove into the horror side, we wanted to try all the cult classics, you know the ones everyone talks about.  We can tell you the black and whites are truly terrifying and so much better than their counterpart remakes. As for some of the others, like Hellraiser and Evil Dead, I gravely think those were lost on us. Although some movies flop horridly, it's so nice to spend the weekend together in our pj's just eating junk food and enjoying each others compamy. It's hard not to love this holiday.