Pumpkin heads

“What is all that GIGGLING?” Isaac demanded from outside the kitchen window where he was hacking at a tiny pumpkin.

I hunched over the sink with a knife and a pineapple. Had I been giggling this whole time?

With a flourish, I presented my Pineapp-O-Lantern. The kids looked at the pineapple. They looked at me.

“What IS that?”

“It’s a PINAPP-O-Lantern!” I cackled.

Eloise faked a pity giggle and they both went back to hacking at their sugar pumpkins. I made myself a drink with fresh pineapple juice, coconut water, and pineapple vodka, poured over ice. Someone come up with a good tropical Halloween name for that concoction!

Isaac donned his flight suit and borrowed Chris’ Officer of the Deck hat for the Kailua Halloween party Saturday night. Eloise had just woken up from a nap and refused to change into her pink Spider-Man costume, so since she was already in all black I handed her a Darth Vader mask and hustled her through the rain into the car.

Both kids had worn Spider-Man costumes (the ones they earned this summer) for a Halloween thing at Eloise’s school and the squadron Halloween party.

The haunted hallway upstairs at the squadron was rumored to be too scary for little kids, by Isaac knew there was more candy up there so he wanted to go. We got to the bottom of the dark, cobweb-strewn staircase and Isaac changed his mind. But still wanted the candy. He was very distressed about missing out on MORE CANDY. I told him he was making a good decision because the cost of the scary-ness was higher than the reward of the candy would be. Good decision making AND discussion of cost-benefit analysis applied to real life situations—isn’t Halloween great? Now we can launch right into greed vs. thankfulness because the day after Isaac’s birthday he started talking about what he wanted for Christmas, and just today he told me he COULD NOT REMEMBER A SINGLE PRESENT FROM HIS BIRTHDAY four weeks ago—while listing all the crappy toys he wants. But I told the kids they may ask for one thing for Christmas, and to remember Christmas is about: 1. Jesus, 2. spending time together, 3. Presents I guess.

“The most important thing, Mom—do you know what it is?” Isaac looked at me, his eyes wide and sparkling. “Love. That’s most important.”

…He said as he clutched at the target toy catalogue that arrived today.

But back to Halloween.

It would not be hard to guess which adorable, happy-go-lucky pumpkin was carved entirely by Isaac (with a dinner knife, no less!).

“Can we de-cor-ate? Can we put up more…..de-cor-a-tions?” Eloise says constantly. In response to this adorable request we’d already done a tablescape, crafted Jack-O-Lanterns with googley eyes, cut out paper ghosts, and stuck vintage Halloween postcards all over the fridge.

Finally I asked, “Do you mean decorate our house like Curious George does in Boofest?” (Crepe paper, lights, candles, stuff that hangs from the ceiling)

“Yes!”

“…..sorry, we’re not going to do that.”

She was bummed, so I showed her a picture of our old house decorated for Christmas. She about lost her mind.

Eloise likes to listen to a CD in the car of a lady and kids singing Bible verses. One of the songs talks about the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. From her car seat I hear, “Holy Ghost? Is God dressing up for Halloween?”

My Woo! She keeps me giggling, even when I’m not carving tiny pineapp-O-lanterns.

This is not enough decoration for The Woo.

Happy Halloween!