Halloween 2018

On any random day of the year Romy pipes up and asks, "Is it Halloween tomorrow?" (eyes big and full of hope). The French in our village may not celebrate Halloween exactly as we did in NYC, pumpkins may not be quite as easy to get a hold of and trick or treating is redefined, but we carry on the tradition...and I am pretty sure Colette will be an eternal Egyptian.

Skeleton Wedding

One of my favorite things about Marguerite is her constant creativity. She is always in production mode, building and crafting, researching and devising, giving birth to all sorts of new creations. For Halloween she thought it appropriate to orchestrate a wedding between the two skeletons that were hanging around outside our house. Baskets full of costumes, hats, wigs - options for the big day materialized. Each girl carried more than her arms could handle, tumbling down the stairs in a rush to get the bride and groom ready. Wax rings, a veil and a marriage certificate, music from the Fisher Price record player, flowers and wedding attendees. All symphonized by Mademoiselle Marguerite, the great. She's convinced she wants to be an event planner one day...the possibilities are endless for this one.










Love was in the air


Making it official

Halloween

When we first moved to France, Colette’s biggest concern was that there wouldn’t be Halloween. We found a celebration last year at a nearby chateau, but it turned out to be a bit too scary for little ones. So indeed, this year we were all a bit anxious to find the right Halloween party. The night of Halloween one of Colette’s classmates invited us to his neighborhood in our village. It was about 15 French kids in a pack. They were quite menacing, roaming the dark streets approaching the gated houses shouted “des bonbons, des bonbons” - all in unison. I wanted to correct their approach, but I felt like it wasn't my place.



Thankfully, there is a large anglo-community in a nearby village in the Luberon that celebrates Halloween in its true sense. Our friends in Lourmarin invited us to come there to treat the girls to a proper Provence Halloween. The whole town was in the streets, everyone was saying trick-or-treat and candy was overflowing in every doorway. No dark gates or windows. Costumes galore. All three girls were just delighted.

\Halloween 2015.

In contrast to last year’s united front, for Halloween this year we were a patchwork stew. Colette – the super magical (and mysterious – a word she likes to use) fairy, Marguerite – the steadfast witch (5 Halloweens in a row), Romy – madame dinosaur – she does the roar and was a show-stopper in terms of cute, and Xavier made a fine Top Gun fighter pilot. Hamilton Heights has become a hot spot for Halloween. A really great holiday to watch little ladies take their fancies out on the street and parade around.

American epic space opera in Harlem.

The scooter actually inspired the costume.

The doorbell rang and I sent Romy to go see who it could be. Stormtrooper papa.



And madame Yoda eating gobs of candy.





They went out to patrol the scene.





Lots of trick-or-treaters on our block in Harlem.



Marguerite wanted to be a witch this year. Charming witch lady. She did a tour with some witch friends from the neighborhood. It was really sweet how much anticipation Marguerite felt for Halloween; she arrived a couple of weeks ago and counted down the days.







So, no, Colette did not elect to be Yoda. It was chosen for her. When we would ask her what she wanted to be for Halloween, she would say - "I'm going to be a pink one and Romy is going to be a red one, and you are going to be a green one, and papa will be a brown one and Marguerite a blue one. Uncle Stephen can be a white one and Uncle John a black one." We thought maybe she wanted to be a paint set, but it wasn't quite clear. When we introduced the Yoda costume, she put it on and smiled a big smile.



Romy too. She is full of those.




Romy's own hair was better than the hat for her costume.



We all wanted to be the stormtrooper.