Halloween 2009

this was the first im family halloween without kaya, and her lack of presence was heavily felt.   every halloween, we'd all be doubled over in laughter as kaya padded around the house in her costume, clearly not thrilled to be wearing it, but, in her usual accommodating manner, would sport the costume benignly.

this year, there was the same harried flurry as the costumes went on and photos were snapped, and ozzy crying yet again this year because he didnt want to be still for the pictures.  but this year, there was no gut-busting laughter over the way kaya looked in her costume.

i dont know if it was the drizzly rain that dampened the mood, but even the walk from house to house was lack luster without kaya trotting along patiently from house to house.

it was a less stressful halloween though, since i wasnt scurrying to sew kaya's costume.  ozzy's costume was only available in size 2-4T, so i did have to adjust his.  i sat and stitched by hand and watched several episodes of Top Chef on demand, while ozzy played on the floor and then later napped.  there was even enough fabric after shortening the arms and legs to make a pair of matching booties, which i pulled over a pair of his regular shoes. 

then later mimi and i used some glo-sticks to add to her halo and to make ozzy a trident.  i thought they were the perfect touch.  if there had been glo sticks available in other colors, it would have been even better...like a red one for ozzy's trident and a white or yellow one for mimi's halo.

we didnt hit very many houses this year and were back in the house in about an hour.  ozzy was tired.  he did enjoy getting the candy from each house.  when we got home, we sorted through the loot and removed everything that was processed in a plant with peanuts or contained peanuts, which left mimi with a small handful of treats that she could enjoy, a little more this year than last year though, since ozzy also collected candy, so we were able to pool his stash with hers since he wouldnt be eating much of them anyway (i let him have a dumdum lollipop).  the remainder would have been recycled back into the treat pot to go out to the remaining trick or treaters, but it was a slow night (maybe because of the rain or because so many people were probably sick with colds/flu), so we had lots of candy left in our candy bowl. 

mimi said it was a fun night.  and the best part, of course, was getting all the candy.  but for me, it was kind of a sad day.  maybe next year, we'll have a small halloween party.  maybe having more excited and happy kids around will make up for the spark that was lost this year without our kaya.