Happy Halloween!

Another Halloween has come and gone. Sometimes I miss the days of childhood when I'd ponder so seriously what I would be dressing up as for that magical night. It wasn't so much about the candy (though that was always good) it was more about the fact that Halloween night was a night of possibilities. Possibly you'd see a ghost (a real one), possibly you'd score a 'big' candy bar, possibly you'd have such a great costume, that everyone who saw you would compliment you on it. Possibly something exciting would happen. After all, if exciting things were going to happen, it makes sense that it would happen on Halloween night.

Since becoming an adult, I have to admit I've lost a little bit of that sense of anticipation for Halloween. Despite that, it's still a great holiday and I'm determined to celebrate it with my family, even though London (and the UK in general) don't exactly have the same traditions as the US.

Last year, when I was pregnant with Amelia, I had so much fun looking at various costumes for kids online. I couldn't wait for the next year when I got to dress up my child in some clever costume. If Amelia had been a boy, she would've been Superman, no question. Since I didn't have a definite costume for a daughter in mind, I spent several months wondering what would I choose to dress Amelia as (I say 'I' and not 'we' because my loving husband let me have this one, he didn't interfere at all...then again, he never really celebrated Halloween in Oz). I was disappointed in the selection of costumes that the UK had to offer, and disappointed at how expensive costumes were to order online.

Luckily, my sister saved the day, she sent us a great costume (that I picked out) from the states.

Now we had a costume, I was ready to show off my little tiger cub at our ward Halloween party. Surely there was going to be one. There are so many Americans in our ward, I didn't even consider the possibility that there wouldn't be some sort of Halloween party. Well there wasn't one. Which I still think is crazy.

So I decided we'd go trick or treating with some friends. Unfortunately stake conference (the night session) was scheduled for that night so Matt couldn't come with us, (he had to teach a priesthood seminar). So it was mostly mums and kids. I didn't plan on getting any candy for Amelia (there's always next year to steal...I mean share her candy), but it was fun to walk around with the other moms and enjoy the night.

Luckily where we live has a high American population, so there were lots of places to go and the streets were filled with trick or treaters.

Amelia looked so cute and had lots of oohs and aahs from various people, I think she was a little startled by all the attention because she started to cry after the fourth person peaked their head in and looked at her. Ah well, it's good for her, we figure it's preparation for Grandpa Ngai and Uncle Humphrey's visit in a couple of weeks.

All in all, Halloween was a great success. Amelia and I got some good exercise, had a fun time with friends, and it did feel like Halloween. I'm happy to report that the night didn't disappoint.