Halloween Memories

I have always loved Halloween. I don't know why, but ever since I was very small, I enjoyed the theatricality and the scariness of this holiday. I love scary stories, and until I saw Paranormal Activity a few weeks ago, I never had bad dreams or stayed up late worrying about movie creatures. Seriously, that movie was frightening. I had a similar fright with Blair Witch Project, but as long as I stay away from nature (which is what I do anyway), the witch ghost can't get me. Demons who attach themselves to suburbanite students? Consider me scared.

Anyway, my mom always encouraged my love of this holiday. Cubans don't really celebrate Halloween (I would imagine it was especially frowned upon after the Revolution), so her parents never really got into it, but they allowed her and her siblings to dress up. There aren't a lot of pictures of their costumes, partly I think, due to the fact that my grandparents didn't think it was important to record. But you can kind of tell that my mom liked dressing up from other elements of the historical record. Here she is wearing my grandmother's wig for laughs:

P.S. I love wigs! I have four of them and I only bought one for Halloween purposes!

Of course, when I was born, everything changed. Now there was a little doll to dress up for Halloween! How fun! I was the first baby of the family and I suppose, the first American in the family. My mom tried to make sure Thanksgiving was American style (a no rice and beans mantra was apparently needed) and she made sure I had costumes if I wanted. For every picture that doesn't exist from my mom's Halloweens, there are about 5 from mine and my brothers'.

She says that I often created costumes and did fun makeup faces when it wasn't even Halloween.
I don't remember that really, but I do remember her telling me whenever I did something weird that I was very "creative." My dad fully encouraged the holiday, though I think for him it must have been tough. His father died in a tragic explosion on October 31st when he was a kid in Cuba. I can't imagine coming to a new country after that kind of loss only to find that the anniversary of his death is a death celebration. He never really talked about it and I don't know if he and his brothers ever trick-or-treated.

But my brothers and I did. We sometimes came back from a trip around the block and put on another costume and went out twice. Greedy little jerks, we were. And the amount of candy was totally ridiculous. I'm surprised we were allowed to keep it all, but I think my mom knew us well enough to know that come December, she'd see most of it in the trash. Except for my brother Lui, who I bet still keeps a candy drawer full to the brim.

Last year's Halloween celebration was not so hot. M. had just gotten laid off. I had a vampire costume planned, but I did a lackluster job of it because I felt, well, lacking in luster. M. went out with me anyway, because he knows I love the holiday. His costume, though planned in advance, worked perfectly for his mood:
Frank the bunny from Donny Darko allowed him to hide behind a mask. It also had a small hole in the mouth perfect for a cocktail straw. This year's celebration is going to be better, but it has been such a tough year. I didn't really do much decorating. I'm actually looking forward to next year's holiday, really. I plan on having a party, I think, in our new apartment. But tonight, we will go out and we have costumes and we will drink and be merry. The neighborhood kids love our dog Radley, so we'll dress him up too and take a walk around the block while they are out trick-or-treating. He loves wearing stuff, so I'm sure he'll be the happiest dog ever.

I keep thinking of my future, full of possibility. I know there is a lot left to do and a lot I want to accomplish here, but I am so excited about moving that I wish it was happening sooner. Remember my 2009 goals/resolutions? I had called them collectively "Go 2009." Well, it's still called that, but it's more like "Go already 2009." 2010 awaits!

Hope you all have fun Halloweens and that none of you are wearing "sexy" versions of regular costumes.