"Halloween's only 10 days away MOM!!!" shouts my Luke, as he wakes up this morning. "When are we going to carve the pumpkins?????" That is the question I've heard for about two weeks now, everyday from both Luke and Faith. One of Eric's birthday gifts is a creepy man who shoots fog from his mouth that he tests every other day to be sure that it works for our Halloween night of festivities at the Corrao house/neighborhood. It is a sight to behold over there, seeing all that is presented in their neighborhood. People are dishing out pastas, popcorn, hotdogs, beer, soda, hot chocolate and yes, even CANDY........the list goes on. Our annual pumpkin patch adventure went down this past weekend with sunny, beautiful weather; however, my trip to Aldi's for the huge $1.99 pumpkins happened only a week before that! I bought four of them, one for each kid and hopefully one to save for Thanksgiving Day. You gotta love that Aldi's!!! We love to experience the thrill of the pumpkin patch at Thies' Farm, but we gave our money to the grocery store who honors the working class people! To live in the Woytus house during October is to immerse yourself in everything spooky with oranges and blacks, dangling bats and spiders, creepy hands edging over shelves and spider webs sprawled throughout the house. The good part is that you can't see the real spider webs with all the fake ones around. Sometimes I mistake the real spiders for the fake ones. It is one of my most favorite times of the year, even with all the goings on and shuffling around with activities and school celebrations.......it is a special, wonderful time for our family. It was Chrissy's 2nd most favorite holiday.....Thanksgiving was her first......as she adored all the foods and smells in store for that event. Food was a priority and Halloween just didn't hold a candle in the food department for her. Halloween was good and tasty with all the grilling, soups and chilis, but it didn't compare to her Thanksgiving.
As this next first holiday approaches without her physical presence, I am still able to smile because for atleast one day.....maybe more.....we allow ourselves to behave like kids. We all dress up along with our kids, and on Chrissy's last earthly Halloween, she was the mummy. Her health was not good, but she prevailed as she dressed in black, wrapped herself up with gauze and was present for her family. Along with my kids and all the other friends and family that will gather; we will prevail. There is no question that we will, and we are thankful for the memories and for the new ones that we will make. As this week approaches with all our preparations, attending school "fall parties", we will step forward in our new dimension. It isn't without pain, thinking of her absence, but there is also joy in knowing we had fun when she was alive. This holiday holds so much significance.......celebrating our saints and those who have gone before us. There is so much meaning in the day and in this family. As we act like children, I will be reminded of how much she loved this night of dressing up, pretending, decorating and so much more. We children will prevail.......we always do.
"Oh when the saints, go marching on.....oh when the saints go marching on......"
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