Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween: All are welcome, including little old Russian ladies and extraterrestrial superbeings. And yes, even Jews.

You know what just occurred to me? No one ever attached a good behavior clause to Halloween. I know Christmas is the undisputed high point of the year for every child in Christendom, but there was always that one little string attached. And then when you're old enough, of course, they replace the positive reinforcement of piles of presents with the negative reinforcement of eternal fiery damnation.

Which is a can full of cynical worms I'm going to leave shut for now because it has nothing to do with Halloween, a holiday for children and heathens and heathen children. And that's the point: It's the only holiday where everyone is welcome and the only people who do not take part are those who don't like to have a little darkness with their fun.

Today is the day when every child, regardless of the religion or nationality they had nothing to do with choosing, is entitled to piles of sweets in a transaction for which they set the terms. Kids turn the tables on our adult world (the one in which threats and rewards determine everything right down to the fates of our very souls) by going door to door demanding candy.... or else! And woe be to those who shut their door and turn out the lights, unless they're like us and live in an apartment complex almost devoid of children, in which case please carry on as usual.

Now, for your amusement, Halloweens of Mickey past:

Mommom holding Mickey the Rabbit, 1979. That's Joe with his arm around my brother. You never knew when Poppop was going to dress up like Joe and take his place on the porch, just in time to scare the crap out of whichever grandchild happened upon him first. I'm still a little scared of Joe as a result. I believe he now resides on my parents' front porch.

Mickey the babushka lady. My parents have a sense of humor, apparently. I guess my brother is a tree.

One of my favorite pictures, ever. Pajamas + liberal application of aluminum foil + the Incredible Hulk as a trick or treating companion = classic Halloween.


Did my parents repaint the garage door every year (it's blue in this one)? The Man of Steel makes his first appearance. The witch is our next door neighbor, because even Jews get to enjoy Halloween, see! (By that I mean our neighbors were Jewish, not that Jews are witches.)

SIDE NOTE: Tomorrow is the first day of National Blog Posting Month. Join me in posting every day for 30 straight! We'll make the internet explode! It'll be fun!

12 comments:

shelleycoughlin said...

Isn't NaBlo 30 days? Sorry, semantics. I wish you luck, and I will see how I feel tomorrow. If I'm feeling particularly verbose, I may throw my hat in the ring!

Also, I LOVE the aluminum foil hat costume. Is it an alien? A futuristic fighter? Who knows? It's a wonderful Halloween mystery!

DailyNewsie said...

I love the bunny and babushka costumes. I think parents have only a small window of time in which they can dress up their children as they please, so they have to take advantage of it. My mother once stuffed my little brother's pants and shirt full of pillows, painted freckles on his face, and paraded him around as a fat farmer. I'm scared to ask what horrid costumes I was subjected to in my infancy.

The Dutchess of Kickball said...

I was totally creeped out by Joe the instant I saw that picture. How on earth did Poppop get his head in that pumpkin? I'm scared. Hold me?

And I'm not sure what is going on in the last picture with the gigantic head and tiny legs, but I'm strangely curious.

Courtney said...

Awww, lil' Mickey was so cute. Still is.

(I love the juxtaposition between your baby rabbit costume and the Misfits costume in the sidebar, by the way.)

Noelle said...

I would like to hear more about how dressing up as the babushka lady has affected you to this point.

Happy Halloween!

Mickey said...

Thanks, npDubs. The correction has been made. I'll go ahead and post on Dec. 1, just to make it 31.

ck said...

on totally different note, i noticed you're reading suttree. be careful! that book will completely enthrall you with knoxville and then you'll never leave. it happened to me. consider yourself warned.

Aaron said...

At first glance, I thought you guys had some really offensive costumes going on in that third picture. Then I thought you were zombies.

Seriously: I need help.

Traveling Em said...

Yay! Love the childhood pictures.

I handed out candy to little kids last night and the costumes were so lame! When was it that parents forgot that it's so much more fun to dress your kid without buying the cosume at Tar-geh first!

Em

The Modern Gal said...

The garage door makes me think of those video games at the bars where you pick out the differences between two photos. Ok, way off the topic of Halloween. Next year I think you should revisit the bunny thing.

Julie said...

The problem is that kids today have no respect for tradition, as usual. I got dressed up and handed out candy to the kids in my friend's neighborhood on Friday and was annoyed that the vast majority of kids just held out their sack expectantly. They obviously don't understand the whole threat/reward system.

Allie said...

The foil spaceman is classic! I also really love your brother's tree costume.