Happy Halloween!

Halloween is my favorite holiday.

Most people give me a quizzical look when I say that. They wonder how this could possibly be. I think an ex-boyfriend thought me slightly sacrilegious because of it.

For the record, though, I'd like to say that I'm not a hellion. I don't worship the devil, nor do I ignore the apparently more acceptable holidays of Christmas and Thanksgiving. Let me tell you why. I'll begin with a list:

• Candy!
• Plastic, orange pumpkin baskets. They're small, but so cheerful!
• Carving pumpkins! My favorite part is scooping out the insides!
• Lightly salted and baked pumpkin seeds!
• Being creative with costumes!
• Seeing the creative side of other people!
• Late-night parties!

Besides all this, Halloween ushers in the rest of the holiday season! It's the first in a long line of holidays, so when you get to Halloween, you know that there are a lot of other great holidays soon coming!

But let's get a little more serious . . . Here's are some psychoanalytical reasons behind my love of Halloween:

Halloween was always a happy time in my family's house. My mom sews, so she almost always helped my brothers and sisters and me make our costumes. Just imagine being nearly anything you want! A seamstress for a mother is a child's Halloween dream. My dad was happy, too, that his wife could make the costumes -- with six children in the house, spending money on costumes in the store was much worse than spending money on material to sew. Not only were my parents saving money on the costumes, though, they were not spending money in large quantities, period. With Thanksgiving, you spend a lot of money on food, and with Christmas, you spend an exorbitant amount on clothes and toys and gadgets.

While I know my parents love each other, I also cannot remember a Thanksgiving or Christmas when they did not get into a loud financial argument. According to my dad, mom spent too much. According to my mom, dad didn't spend enough.

The middle ground? Halloween. Although my mom probably buys too much candy, she still never spends very much on it. How could one do that, anyway? There's only so much candy you can get . . . I think my dad is pleased with that.

My dad also enjoys the Fall; he likes walking outside on crisp, cool October evenings. So he enjoyed taking my sister and me out to trick-or-treat. He was probably just as excited to walk around the neighborhood as we were, so it made the whole night that much more fun.

So there you have it.
Halloween is my favorite holiday.


Thing I'm thankful for: chocolate!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

This isn't the best picture of the jack-o-lanterns my dad and I carved today, but it's the best I have right now. I just wanted to put something related to Halloween on here.

AND I wanted to say that I'm finally officially declaring Halloween as my favorite holiday. As a Christian, I feel a little guilty not saying that Christmas is. But I'm not sorry about it. Because I've gone over the reasons for Halloween in my head, and they're good ones.

• It's the closest holiday to my birthday.
• It's the closest holiday to Daylight Saving Time, which should probably be a holiday itself.
• After a long, long period in the calendar year of no national holidays, Halloween ushers in the winter holidays.
• Nowadays, it's pretty much a holiday devoted to the young and young at heart, which I think is great.
• It gives people a reason to dress up like their heroes, use their imaginations and creativity, and ask for candy.
• That last point is a good transition into this one. That is, Halloween gives people a reason to chow down on candy. You can pretty much eat tons of candy on Halloween, and no one will say, "Do you really think you should have that?" And even a week after Halloween, you can still munch on candy. All you have to say to yourself and others is, "Oh these things? They're Halloween leftovers!"
• Eventually (and inevitably), we all get a little sick of non-stop candy, and this is the perfect feeling to have going into Thanksgiving, when food is about as healthy as it gets.

Am I leaving anything out? If so, please write a comment.

Thing I'm thankful for: carving out those pumpkins today with dad. Okay, he did the cutting, but I did the cleaning -- pulling out seeds and pumpkin yuck is kinda fun for me. Anyway, it was fun. Thanks for the fun Sunday, dad!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween reminds me of lots of things; one of them is candy corn and peanuts.

My dad likes everything crunchy.  If a food isn't crunchy, he'll find a way to make it so -- usually by adding pecans, peanuts, or Fritos.  It irritates my mom to no end, and honestly, I think he overdoes it a bit.  But when he added peanuts to candy corn, I think he found brilliance.  It's the perfect combination of soft and crunchy, sweet and salty.  There is, I suppose, opposition in all things; Halloween treats are no exception.  :)

Happy Halloween, everyone!  I hope it's your best day all year!


Thing I'm thankful for: crafting while watching a movie!

HaPpY HaLLoWeEn!

I just learned about another reason to celebrate Halloween . . .  On this day in 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.  What a triumph.

Now, I have another reason to add to my why-Halloween-is-my-favorite-holiday list.  :)


Thing I'm thankful for: fresh flowers

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Here's a fun Halloween video that my sister and her husband made a few years ago . . . Enjoy! And have so much fun today!!!


The Haunting of Halloween from Adam Miele on Vimeo.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Halloween is my favorite holiday!


Thing I'm thankful for: class that doesn't start until noon!

Happy Halloween, Part 2

I didn't take enough good digital pictures. But I did take some. I'm sorry if I left anyone out; it wasn't done on purpose. :)

The goods:


Halloween is huge in my family. Every year, mom fills up this gigantic aluminum bowl with tons of candy. To give you an idea of the size of the bowl and the amount of candy it contained, I placed a penny next to it for a reference.


Lily was Cheer Bear.


Macy was Harmony Bear.


Together, they were the cutest couple of care bears I've ever seen.


I took more pumpkin pictures.


Summer carved the one on the bottom of the next picture. I really like it. Sum's so artistic.


I left out the best part of the girls' costumes -- the hearts on their buns. Cute, huh?


Macy and Clay prepare to trick-or-treat.


The Rebers came over for the festivities. So did the Aguirres and the Chad Woods. But I didn't get a lot of pictures of everyone, as I said before. I mostly took pics of the kids, including the littlest Reber. She was a bumblebee, of course. The cutest part of her costume is the little stinger. Can you see it?


She's mobile.


Here's Angela with Macy, who looks like she could be Angela's kid. (Note on Macy: The girl loves candy. Just about every moment I saw her tonight, she was chewing on a fresh piece of candy. No playing for this girl; she was all about serious candy-eating business tonight. That's my girl!)


Jeff and Clay inspect the candy.


I think this is a good picture of Summer. Lexi and I were discussing how cute Lil' and Mace are. I think it's easy to see why when you look at Sum and Clay.


Brooks and Jacki came over, too. Here, Jacki gets into catty character.


When mom saw this picture, she said Brooks and Jacki are gonna have cute, cute kids. Yes, they will be cute, and they'll have chubby cheeks! (Those are the best kind of baby cheeks.) :)


Can't get enough of those heart buns . . .


After everyone left, I decided it was time for a little "Napoleon Dynamite." So mom, dad, and I watched it and laughed. Good times.

Thing I'm thankful for: Those heart buns? :) Seriously -- just having so much fun with my family.

Busy Nothings: Best of 2009

Okay, Okay. I realize this is a little late, but although I wouldn't say I blog regularly, I do still keep this blog up. And it's been five years. Here's what I blogged about during the fifth year:

Christmas was Different This Year
What I Want in a Husband
Happy Halloween!
Paul Offit is My Hero
Emotion Explosion!
End of an Era
Far and Away: Goodbye to a Roommate
We Got Soaked Together, Or the Unifying Power of Adversity
Nashville!
Strange Things in Nashville
Not Just a Hunch Anymore
Photo Booths
Why I Would Make a Good Wife: Reason No. 532
A Letter to Soap
This Video Brings Me Joy
Time Travel to 1989
To Read or Not to Read?
Happy Valentine's Day!
2009 Resolutions


Thing I'm thankful for: that some of you are still here. Thanks for reading! (It really does mean a lot!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's my second favorite day of the year! (My first favorite is Halloween!) I love it because my mom loved it. I love it because I threw one of the best parties ever on Valentine's Day. And finally, I love it because it's about love! Romantic love, family love, friendly love. Just love. It reminds me of my favorite scene in "Elf."



Happy Valentine's Day, world. I hope it's a good one for you. :)


Thing I'm thankful for: cool weather in Texas!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Yeah, that's right. I've been listening to Christmas music. In fact, I listened to it on my way home from the haunted house I went to on Halloween. And double in fact, I listened to it a few weeks ago, when I was feeling particularly lonely.

I thought, "Huh. I wonder if 23-year-old me had anything to say on the matter. I'll take a look at the ol' blog."

I expected to see a passionately opinionated post about how people should not be listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving; after all, I was fairly black-and-white in my younger years. (Aren't we all?) But I surprised myself. Check this out: Christmas Before Thanksgiving.

Everything I said then is what I want to say now. That is, Christmas should be celebrated as much as possible throughout the year. I don't think it makes the actual holiday any less special, and if it does, that's . . . That's kinda strange to me, actually.*


*People say the same thing about Girl Scout Cookies. Like this: "If they sold Girl Scout Cookies year-round, then they wouldn't be as special." Here's what I say to that: "If they sold Girl Scout Cookies year-round, then I would be able to eat them year-round!" Special or not, they would still be as delicious as ever.


Thing I'm thankful for: the musical stylings of Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, and Andy Williams. I can never decide which one is my favorite. :)

Far and Away: Goodbye to a Roommate

Before I knew Michelle as a roommate, I knew her as half of a pair of Irish girls. I remember the Sunday she and Sandra introduced themselves in church. I thought, "Whew! At least I have a boyfriend! I would not want to be in the dating pool right now. Those girls are beautiful, and they have Irish accents!"
"Hi, I'm Sandra O'Conn-er from Dooblin."
"And I'm Michelle Law-ler from Lim'rick."

No, there was no hope for any girl in our ward to shine while those two were here.

There was one reason I was delighted to have them here in Georgia, though, and that was for study. I wanted to learn the Irish accent and imitate it, as I am wont to do with any speech different from mine. Sadly, I missed out on both of their talks in church! How was I ever going to learn their accents? We weren't really friends, and I had no intention of introducing myself to them . . . They were beautiful and Irish! So intimidating!

Until one day, I found a weak spot. I had prepared a fruit dip of marshmallow fluff and cream cheese for Linger Longer (singles potluck) one Sunday in early Autumn. After most people left, I grabbed my nearly-empty bowl of dip and headed for the door. As I was leaving, I ran into "The Irish Girls," as they were called, and Sandra said, "Oh, you're the one who made that dip? It's gorgeous!" I was amazed that she described food as gorgeous, and she and Michelle were amazed that there was such a thing as marshmallow "fluhf."

We became acquaintances after that -- I invited them to my Halloween party and other gatherings, and we'd say hi in church. It wasn't until my Ugly Sweater Christmas Party, however, that we were actually able to talk much and become friends. It was after that party that we stayed up late and played Phase 10. That was the night Sandra cheated at cards, and Michelle's head kind of floated off her head because she wasn't interested in cards at all. We stayed up late with a few other friends, talking and laughing. It's one of my best Atlanta memories.

The next Spring I needed a roommate, and since Sandra was moving back to Ireland, Michelle needed a roommate, too. By this time, we knew each other fairly well, so after Michelle's summer holidays, she moved into my apartment. We quickly learned that we liked to talk. And talk. And talk.

The funny thing is that Michelle and I didn't actually spend much time together during the day. We are both super-busy almost all the time, and Michelle goes on more dates than anyone I've ever seen! Still, those late-night chats were great. We had our share of arguments and disagreements, but I consider those hours well-spent. Mostly we'd philosophize and talk about guys and girls and who was currently dating. We'd talk about family and Ireland and all kinds of things. I know I will miss those hours-long discussions that stretched into the early-morning hours.

Michelle's in Utah now, and I miss her. This apartment is somewhat depressing without another person to fill the space. For now, I will have to be content with the things Michelle gave me while she lived here: practice at honing my Irish accent, the knowledge that everything sounds truer and wiser in Irish, and the irrefutable fact that Ireland is better than America.

Also, Michelle probably unknowingly taught me a handful of Irish phrases:

• All over the shop. "She's all over the shop!" This is my favorite phrase. It could mean anything from "He's crazy" to "I'm tired and completely out of it" to "That person's completely hyper."
• Gone off. "That milk has gone off." Food that is spoiled.
• Knacker. "He's a knacker." A knacker could be a jerk or an idiot.
• Lovely. "Ah, she's loov-ly." What you say about someone you like a lot; someone who is an all-around good person.
• PMT. Premenstrual tension. Apparently, PMS is not used at all.
• Sofa and cushions. "That sofa comes with two cushions." When referring to a couch, or sofa, the pillows that come with it are called cushions.

That's all I can think of for now. I did come up with a couple others, but when I looked them up for spelling online, I realized that they were indeed cuss words, though Michelle assured me otherwise . . . :)


Thing I'm thankful for: a happy, friendly roommate who shared a bit of her spirit with me. I love you, Michelle!