I loved Halloween as a kid. We would use pillowcases for our trick-or-treat bags. I'd hate to know how many calories I ingested each year. I remember wandering the streets of Vernal until way too late for it to be healthy (stomach-wise or safety-wise). I would get so cold I was sure that my nose or my toes would fall off. I still remember Jill Wright's dad, Frank, accidentally pinning my mummy wrappings to my leg with a small safety pin as he helped wrap the two of us up for a dance in jr. high (and I didn't have the nerve to tell him that the pin had gone in and out of my skin---I finally took it out in the school restroom after I couldn't stand the pain any longer---was I dense or what?).
I loved Halloween when my kids were young---except sometimes when we had costume issues and the jack-o-lantern thing (DJ was rarely home to help; hence, not a jack-o-lantern for each kid every year and some years there were pumpkins with marker faces!) Despite DJ's amazing ability to be out of town on a good share of Halloween nights, I continued with my fascination for the make-believe, the goodies, and the excitement in my kids voices and eyes.
When we moved from Vernal to Bountiful in 1980, it was near the end of October. So what did I do? I hosted a Halloween-themed party for Rachel and Matt and their little friends as kind of a "good-bye bash" in the middle of our moving boxes (figured it would look more like a haunted house). There was hardly a year that I didn't do the room mother thing at Halloween. I became proficient at pumpkin cut-out cookies and managing classrooms of 7-8 year olds who each had his/her own frosting container, plastic knife, and sprinkles or M and M's. I had the classic homemade Halloween Word Bingo game with a witch's cauldron from which to draw the words and a set of McDonald Happy Meal plastic pumpkins that strategically placed were perfect for "Bozo Buckets". I knew how to place spider rings on dozens of cupcakes with great finesse and blinding speed. I did Halloween crafts with Brownie and Girl Scout troops. I just kind of enjoyed the whole fun part of the holiday. I also loved to decorate the house.
Fast forward to my years as "Grammy". I couldn't find enough cute things---Halloween onsies and jammies, socks, hats, and bibs; black cat stuffies or Beanie Baby-sized ghosts; Halloween board books and later on, picture books, and still later, Halloween versions of Easy Readers and chapter books; Halloween motifs on plastic dinnerware and utensils; and treats, of course. When I just had a few grandchildren I would sometimes send costumes:
and in 2008, I even sewed up a costume for my favorite Queen Guinevere (Morgan) and my own special cowgirl (Becca):
But the Halloween tradition that has been long-lasting and the most fun (and the most work) started when my sister, Olivia (Livi, to me) and I got together and started making our grandchildren their annual Halloween surprises. For three years, we did what we called BOO BOOKS---books made from small, paper lunch bags in such a way that there were multiple pages and pockets, and then we would add more envelopes and pouches, afterwards embellishing the whole thing with Halloween stickers, papers, ribbons, etc. We would fill the empty spaces with coupons for goodies, gift cards for new books, stickers, coins to use for a ride on the horse at Wal-Mart, tiny coloring books, candy, punch balls, and just about every small plastic gadget, game, or doo-dad from Oriental Trading or Target's $1 bins that would fit and that we hadn't used before.
Babies got things like bibs, feeding spoons, baby snacks, teething rings, etc. stuffed in their books.
The same year, Rachel's girls had some wait time before or after a ward party so she let them have their BOO BOOKS. I would ship them in large Ziplocs in case anything fell out of the pockets, 20-month old, Anna, is trying to get her's out! Morgan and Becca were checking out the pages.
In 2008, I told Livi I was tired of BOO BOOKS, thus, our new project BOO BUCKETS---empty unused paint buckets which we decorated and filled with much the same types of things. I had to come up with nine different-looking buckets, each with it's own unique design:
Each with over 30 ribbons cut and tied on the handle:
Each with it's own unique lid...
And each with a card from Grammy and Grampy (lovingly computer-designed and generated by Auntie Livi):
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The kids loved them.as evidenced by the Dailey girls waiting for Mom's signal to open them and then playing with all the goofy little surprises inside:
Well, they were much less labor-intensive and that was good. But, oh my, did I think about what it was going to cost to fill them???????? Or mail them to Tennessee, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Texarkana? Nope, definitely not a repeat for 2009---
So we went to our version of the BOO BOX, a smaller something (not by much), less labor-intensive something (not by much---8 different surfaces to cover, and we decoupaged). I got these five done and in the mail and kept working on the next four...
...and finished them in Tennessee, while hiding away in our bedroom late at nights, in the middle of helping Rachel and Russ and their girls move into their new home in Knoxville. I made it just in time for delivery when the girls got home from trick or treating in the rain (hence, some in jammies and wet hair). It was so fun to be there while they opened their boxes. I hadn't experienced the excitement and joy had by the grandchildren as they opened their Halloween surprises!
So enter, 2010 and our move to Basel, Switzerland. I just knew I couldn't do it. I would get here in September, have 13 to do (we've added three new babies and Mike's step-daughter in the last 12 months), and then have to mail them from Basel. Ummmmmm, not going to happen. I told myself it was okay.
Then, my sweet Sarah said, "What, Katelyn's not going to get a BOO BOX for Halloween?!?" Oh, my, the grammy in me suffered. So while visiting Idaho in August, I looked for something, bought 13 smaller buckets hoping to get them decorated and filled before I left, but it didn't happen. Somehow between cleaning, laundry, shopping, packing, gathering up every last thing we needed to take, hooking up Skype and Slingbox, spending some time with family, and going to church, my 3 1/2 days in Houston were chuck full.
So....I went to Barnes and Noble and bought 13 gift cards a few days before I flew here, thinking I would find some kind of cute Swiss Halloween something to tuck the cards into---haven't seen anything (they're not into Halloween like we are, and I don't shop much). Somehow in the midst of unpacking, building, etc, I lost track of time. Last week, I realized, when it took 20 days for my niece's wedding announcement to get here, that there was no way I was going to get anything sent to my 13 adorable little ones.
I had written most of this blog several days ago. Then today, (Tuesday the 26th), I got the brilliant idea to send something through the internet. Found some really cute treat baskets from The Popcorn Factory. The postage was going to eat me alive at this late date, but I had to do something---postage had been terrible the year I sent the BOO BUCKETS. I decided to do it. I browsed, I deliberated, I finally figured out an order for each of our seven of kids and their families (Rachel's family of 7 would need more; some of the others would need a little less; in cases where babies couldn't eat much, they could get by on a little less) dug up new addresses that I didn't have updated, filled in order forms seven times, wrote seven separate messages, and as I pushed the button to finalize the order, it told me there was a problem, blah, blah, blah with the website. For awhile the order was still there, but I couldn't do anything; when I went back later, the order was GONE. :( I spent at least two hours pouring over multiple websites, deciding on theirs, figuring out which family would need what size, etc. and then this. I think I am giving up. I don't have two more hours to re-do the whole thing, and the order needed to go early to get shipped.
I'm not exactly feeling like Grandmother of the Year. As much work as it was, I'm missing the tradition and the satisfaction of making something for the grandchildren for Halloween. I'm really having to work at not letting the disappointment in myself get to me (you know, I should have planned better, I should have gone without sleep more often).
So... I'm adding other adjustments to my list.
- I need to scale back while I am here.
- I now know that I need to plan everything months in advance.
- I need to mail anything at least a month in advance.
The books, buckets and boxes really are adorable but with or without them you are a fabulous grandmother!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a good grandma and grandpa! That is a wonderful idea...looks like I know what I'm doing next year! :)
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