Halloween through a Child’s Eyes

Dear friends,

The month of October is slipping by as the days get us closer to All Hallow’s Eve, deeper into Autumn and closer to winter for us northern hemisphere inhabitants. Otherwise, for my friends in the southern hemisphere, spring should be in full swing.

Last week I was reminded of the immense joy children have when it comes to Halloween. A festive ball was organized at my child’s school and it is now very apparent that my son has inherited a love of social activities and seemingly extroverted nature from his mom. Me? I have mostly leaned toward avoiding social events from childhood to today. I am becoming more and more introverted as I age and large crowds make me a bit anxious. Not my son however! Large crowd of screaming kids all dressed in Halloween attire? His attitude is yes, please! The day of the ball arrived. In my mind, I had an idea that it would be my wife who would leave work early to take him. Safe in that mindset, my son and I worked outside in the garden getting some much needed chores done. As we worked, we paused for a moment, gulped down some refreshing cold water, wiped our brows, leaned back and let out a collective “ahhhh” to recognize not only our quenched thirst but also the fruits of our labor.

In his child like adult way of speaking, he turned to me quietly and asked “I suppose you have to go back to work after this?” “No.” I said. “I am done for the day.” “Really?!” “Yep.” There was a silence between us but I anticipated what was coming next. “Daddy?” “Yes, son.” “Could you be the one that takes me to the Halloween party?” Never in my life have I been asked anything more respectfully and sincerely. I looked at him as pride and several other akin emotions swelled inside me. He stood, with pleading eyes most likely waiting for me to answer no as he is aware I do not like loud, crowded events. I took him into my arms, lifted him above my head (not so easy these days as he is growing so quickly) and exclaimed that “Yes! I will take you!” “Really?!” “Yes, really. Let’s finish up here so we can get ready to go.”

With costume on (grim reaper), we drove to the school and everywhere you looked the faeries and goblins were running amok fueled I am sure by extreme sugar intake. As we exited the car, I looked to the west at the sun setting and then my son in his costume beyond excited at the prospect of what was to come. For a moment, I thought back to when I was his age and the small things that have managed to stick with me through the years. Kindnesses. We did not have a lot of money growing up and yes, we had Halloween parties at school where we were encouraged to dress up but my costume was for Halloween only for if it got ruined, there would be no replacement available for the actual day. As such one Halloween, I just had my face painted as I sat, envious of the kids’ elaborate costumes. I felt out of place which was something very common for me during my childhood. Despite this, there were teachers who made it a point to not allow me to sit and sulk and encouraged me to get up and have fun. “I bet Ben is really good at bobbing for apples.” Cheers as I made my way to the large, metal tub of apples and when I manged to get two in one go by the stems, well, I lived up to my pre-supposed reputation. It was a good day. Kindnesses. I have the feeling that this will be a day that will live in my child’s memories lasting into his adult life.

My son the Grim Reaper with the fading sun behind him. I like how it gave the image an ethereal effect.

Not that taking your child to a party is an act of extraordinary kindness (more a thing you just have to do as a parent) but the fact that he was not expecting me of all people to take him and because I did, this added another level of joy to the event. This was demonstrated again and again by lots of hugs and “I love you daddy.” I even got a hug inside the crowded gym with all his friends around him. I best enjoy THAT while I still can because this is something that will certainly not last. Then again, perhaps it will. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Within the gym, the music was loud and if you ask me too loud for kids up to 11 years of age but what do I know? The array of costumes was definitely a wonderful sight to behold. Some kids’ parents got very creative. Dancing (well, a sort of mostly running, slightly dancing combination) were so many beautiful faeries (some winged, some not), witches dressed to the nines with variations of black, red and purple hats, devils, a storm trooper, Stay Puft Marshmallow man, ninjas and the list goes on. My son was having the time of his life taking people’s souls and as he approached his friends announcing his intent, off they ran with my son in chase. It made me smile from the inside.

Halloween through a Child’s Eyes is a beautiful, soulful thing to behold because it is a day of pure fun with children enjoying the freedom to be as crazy and wild as they so desire. All the while, they carry on the traditions of Halloweens of yore by adorning costumes and of course going out to beg for treats. These days are blessings.

I leave you today with a short story my son created when he learned I was holding a story contest related to Halloween. I love the premise and the thought that went into it. I think he has a promising career as a future writer. I thank you kindly for reading this post and wish you and yours nothing but the very best of the season. Blessings!

Ghost or Treat
a short story by my eight year old son

Halloween really made number six on my top seven list of best holidays. You can easily refill your collection of candy. Plus, you can creep people out with scary costumes! Man that is what I call life!

However, there lives a mythical ghost who only comes out on Halloween night. His name? Thiriva Hijacker. It will contaminate pieces of candy and if someone eats the contaminated pieces of candy, it will strike the brain leaving the host under Thiriva Hijacker’s control. The only cure for it is by quickly grabbing another piece of candy and putting in the host’s mouth, hurting the ghost, causing him to get out of the host’s body and not return until next year.

As scary as that seems, the real reason why I came up with Thiriva Hijacker is that I got scared many times last year. I saw big, fake spiders coming out of nowhere, creepy reapers and other things like that. Actually, it is supposed to be like that because Halloween is meant to be a creepy holiday.

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