Isobel: "Daddy, how do you make a zombie?"
Daddy: "I think it's mostly rum."
Isobel: "What?"
Daddy: "Oh, you mean a real zombie, that's easy. If you don't eat all your supper you turn into a zombie."
Isobel: "... Really?"
Daddy: "Really."
Mrs Narrator: "I heard that it happens if you don't eat your broccoli."
Isobel: "I guess I am going to be a zombie then. Oh well, whatever."
She fell asleep in the car on the way to the mall and snapped awake with a yelp that scared me enough to swerve the car.
Isobel: "Daddy!"
Daddy: "What is it honey?!? You scared the crap out of me!"
Isobel: "Daddy, do zombies eat pizza with pencil shavings on it?"
Daddy: "Not as far as I know, just brains."
Isobel: "Phew"
Ah Halloween! Izzy's favourite holiday...and I guess mine too. Though I have always had a problem with it being called a holiday. I have never gotten the day off work or school...wherein then, lies the holiday?
Anyway, Izzy loves Halloween. Once she understood the concept of knocking on doors equals candy (scandalous amount of candy) she was off and running. I'm sure most kids are excited about the prospect of dressing up and putting on make up once a year but to the child whose day to day play routines involve make-up and costumes of all sorts, careful consideration must be given to ensure that one's treat receivership is not compromised by a poorly planned disguise. A few 'and what are you dressed up as, little girl?' questions and the next thing you know you're trying like hell to make your pittance of Halloween loot last until the end of the week., never mind til next Halloween. We're still not certain how The Boy pulls off this feat every year. We think he may have the devil in him.
So with careful planning and a well thought out colour scheme, Isobel decided she would like to be the Devil. Not any demon or lesser imp, but the Big Red One himself. (or herself in this case) We went off to the second hand store and began to assemble the costume. I would hold up red items and Isobel would say either yay or nay to them. And horns and a pitch fork of course. ( how can you be the Devil without such things) She had initially seen and adult devil costume, one for an ample bosomed woman...complete with red fish net stockings.
"Devil or no, there is no way in HELL you are going to dress like that..." I believe was what came out of my mouth when she pointed at the costume.
And so we me in the middle with red warm up pants, a red sweater and a red fur lined hoodie. We decided against a tail because it looked "totally not like a devil tail anyway." No muss, very little fuss and we were back in the car headed for home with a good costume in under an hour!
So the Devil bit lasted about two days...I blame myself. She would put the costume on and strut around and dance a devilish dance and I made an off the cuff comment about disguising your true self at Halloween...I blame myself...
So off we went, back to the second hand store to get angel wings and a white gown. Izzy remembered that she already had a white dress she could wear and all she needed to have were the wings. Where in the hell was I going to find white wings that weren't going to cost me an arm and a leg? The second hand store, of course. There they were, a rack of wings. Red, black, white, blue and many shades of metallic wings. All for $10:00. You couldn't go wrong. And since she is my kid, the second he saw them, she wanted the black wings and wondered how she could pull off black wings and still be an angel? I blame myself...I suggested she could be a fallen angel, like in the video by her new favourite band. This of course opened up the new dilemma of what outfit to wear under the wings and what make up to wear along with it.
We agreed we would have a look at the video and see what they were wearing and we could do her make up and outfit based on that. She agreed and home we went, where she proceeded to wear the black ostrich feather wings around the house for playing until they became a little on the ratty side.
"I don't want to be an angel anymore, not even a fallen angel. My wings don't look to good now." she said four days before Halloween. I blame myself...
"What now?" I asked, the desperation and frustration beginning to show.
"A vampire." she stated.
That I could do, she just needed new teeth-99 cents at the second hand store. The rest we had left over from last year, even the fake blood. Off we went and got teeth and a little more make up just in case.
She had a Halloween party at school on the Monday of Halloween and I promised I would put on her make up before I went to bed in the morning. When I picked her up after school, she was still wearing the make up, which in my mind meant it went over fairly well. When I was putting the make up back on her before we went out that night, she said she wasn't a vampire anymore. I explained that as long it ddn't involve me running out anywhere in a full blown panic trying to get a costume piece at the last second, that she could be Mary Todd Lincoln's facial hair as far as I was concerned.
She explained that she was going to be a Living Dead Doll. Her make-up was identical only with out the vampire blood (which she said was bugging her chin anyway) and a bright red bow for her hair. It was one of those bows that people put around the bald heads of their baby's for photographs that cause people to ask 'why would you put that gigantic stupid bow on that poor baby's head?'
I have to admit, she thought about it, planned it out and it looked good. Most of the older folks said the standard 'great costumes, guys' to Izzy and The Boy (who incidentally cut as fine a figure of a Grim Reaper as ever I saw) but it was the young hip parents and teen aged girls that really liked what she was wearing and really laid the candy on...my baby know creepy and creepy pays on Halloween...
We were sitting out by the fire one night, Izzy and me and the topic of conversation turned to my Auntie Judy and how she makes the best pickles(she does) and how we should go visit her sometime. (we should)
"I'll bet she's really nice," Izzy said.
"She is, very nice." I replied.
"Does she make you tea when you go to visit her?"
"Always," I said. " "Auntie Judy makes the best tea."
"Does she have a brown tea pot?" Izzy asked.
"I think so," I said. "What else?" I asked.
"Was it Nana's?"
"Yes," I said "But my Nana, not your Nana."
"I think Auntie Judy has short , kind of curly hair." Izzy said.
"What colour?" I asked.
"White," Ozzy said. "Short and white and she wears glasses."
Isobel has never met my Auntie Judy and to my knowledge she has nev
er seen a picture of her. For the record, my Auntie Judy has short, white hair that is slightly curly and she wears glasses when she reads. I can't be 100% certain but I believe the last time I was visiting her, my Auntie Judy made me tea in a brown pot that belonged to my grandmother, my Nana...I think I need to keep my eye on this kid...or take her to the track...Happy Halloween from all of us at Fuzzy Blue Chair!
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