Happy Halloween

Of all the holidays that I never really thought I would embrace Halloween in Canada has been a real revelation to me. The ramp up starts in September which means that I have to be really careful about which shops I take Grace too as some of the decorations are really gruesome. In our house we very much go for the Disney take on Halloween and its all cheery pumpkins and animal costumes. This year I managed to wrestle Grace away from the pink unicorn (it is way too small for her now) and so she chose to be a giraffe. I did buy Patrick a Thomas the Tank engine costume but he didn’t really get the idea and kept ripping it off.

The kids were allowed to wear there costumes to school for the first part of the day and it was really funny (and quite interesting) watching them all line up. It was very easy to spot the kids without older siblings as they were dressed as Giraffes, cowboys, princesses, dinosaurs and firefighters. The ones with a more ‘worldly’ view went as vampire princesses, power rangers and some quite scary witches. It will be interesting to see how Graces view of Halloween dressing up will change next year. We all ent out trick or treating but Patrick only lasted 3 houses before I gave up and brought him home to man the front door. It wasn’t that he was scared or ran off, rather that he wanted to go into every house that we knocked on and then screamed the place down when I wouldn’t let him go in. He didn’t seem bothered about coming home and was instead quite happy to sort out his loot on the front steps. Grace didn’t stay out very long as I think she encountered one movement activity scary witch too many and decided to quite while she was ahead.

I continue to be intrigued by the number of children here that chew gum. Obviously, I haven’t lived in the UK for over 2 years now but when I left I’m sure that I didn’t see 4 year olds with gum in there mouths. This Halloween we have had buckets of the stuff. I’ve taught Grace that it isn’t a very nice habit and its bad for you so we just put it back in the bucket and the bigger kids get it. It set me to wondering though as to why gum is so bad so I looked it up. All the old wives tales from when I was a kid about it staying in your stomach for 7 years are false (clearly!) and there is even a study that says that some of it may prevent cavities as long as it is chewed for more than 20 times. I am left wondering if it is something that I may have to back down on in the future as I just don’t have a good enough reason other than the fact that I don’t like it. Maybe its the old ‘don’t talk with your mouth full’ rule but I do find it repulsive, especially with little kids.

Talking of the difference in cultures. One of Diesels colleagues was talking to a member of the US team who in his ignorance was telling him all about Halloween in the US, what the kids do and what a big deal it is. When he’d finished he asked if it was celebrated in the same way in Canada. Not one to tolerate fools Diesels colleague replied – “oh no, its much more for adults here. We just stand at the door and give out maple syrup and beer.” The american believed him too!