All Hallows Eve

Another successful Halloween has come and gone here in Wauwatosa. My daughter dressed as a Titanic survivor. It was one of those costumes that took a little explaining, but she came up with it all on her own and that's half the fun of it. Plus, I was pleased that it beat out her first choice which was a "popular girl". I can't even begin to imagine what that would have looked like.

2008 monkey costume

My son had a difficult time deciding because he knew it would be hard to top last years monkey costume. So this year he came up with a twist on the classic. He decided to be a circus monkey with cymbals and all. The best part about the costume was how he and his dad figured out a way to use it to get more candy. Once he felt the candy drop in his bag he would crash his cymbals like mad. Most people confused this as his way of saying thank you until his friend Andrew (dressed as a Klement's Polish Sausage Racer) would tell them that it meant he wanted more candy. Needless to say, he brought in quite a haul.

2009 monkey costume

In order to decorate our house this year, my daughter made halloween masks and costumes for many of her stuffed toys. They all lined the mantle and were the funniest thing I have ever seen.

masked menagerie on the mantle

Now most of you who know my daughter know of her love of penguins and she has quite a collection of them. However, her first and real true love is the doll her grandparents brought back from France when she was only months old. Her commercially given name is Becassine but we refer to her simply as Baby. For whatever reason my daughter bonded with that doll from the get go. When we look back and photos and video, she is never far away. I became concerned that if something ever happened to her we would be in real trouble, so the next time my in-laws went to France I asked them to get another doll...exactly the same so we would have a back-up.

We introduced the new doll into the mix and even though my daughter was very young, she knew the difference. Eventually she would come to be known as Friend. And would never serve as a replacement for Baby. To this day Friend remains as pristine as the day we got her.

Baby and Friend

As constant companion, Baby has become very worn. As amateur seamstress, I have tried to mend her as best I can and have quietly referred to her now as FrankenBecassine. While Baby always holds a place of honor in bed with my daughter at night, I often find Friend in the bottom of the stuffed animal basket.

This favoritism has carried through to the Halloween costumes created this year. While Baby was crowned the Prom Queen, Friend looked something like the Unknown Comic with a white mask with holes punched out for the eyes.

Baby and Friend

All the stuffed toys have since taken their places back in my daughter's room and today I am packing away all the other decorations and monkey costume until next year. How will we ever top the circus monkey and the prom queen?