halloween at the house
my first halloween with real kids coming over for candy. so i can safely scratch that one off my things-never-experienced list. and while i am at it, add a footnote to said list to remind me not to be home for another one ever again. why? the whole story follows...
well, it was fine for the first three sets of kids. they dressed in ridiculous costumes (one was 'asian girl' dressed in a red chinese silk outfit). however, things came to a head with the fourth set when a cat casually stepped in through my open front door. first i thought it was the kids' pet so i asked them politely to take the cat out. they shrugged and said it wasn't theirs.
these kids - not dressed up for trick or treating - looked the worst for wear in their own way. unwashed clothes, messy hair - the works. an adult was standing in my porch furiously text messaging someone. she could not care less that their little troup had brought along a cat that no one could account for and that cat was now curiously checking out my new living room furniture. i am not a big animal person and to think that this one was actually a street cat... ewwww... the muck he'd been walking in all day was now tracked right into my pristine home. that thought made my skin crawl. after some effort - and with the help of their very disinterested adult guardian - i managed to get the cat out of the house.
i turned the lights off in the living room immdiately and retired to bed with my current read ("the plague" by camus). it was 10:40 pm. my bed very rarely has the privilege of my company at such an early hour of the night.
this is it for me and halloween. as it is, i never dress up because i fail to see the point. On the one hand - i don't understand why one would need to pretend to be something or someone else even if it is for one day. and on the other hand, it is a pagan ritual possibly having to do with ethnic cleansing for all we know. as you can tell, i am wary of these celebrations (like columbus day, april fool's day for instance). western cultural practices with a murky, unclear past are rarely palatable in their approproate historical context.
well, it was fine for the first three sets of kids. they dressed in ridiculous costumes (one was 'asian girl' dressed in a red chinese silk outfit). however, things came to a head with the fourth set when a cat casually stepped in through my open front door. first i thought it was the kids' pet so i asked them politely to take the cat out. they shrugged and said it wasn't theirs.
these kids - not dressed up for trick or treating - looked the worst for wear in their own way. unwashed clothes, messy hair - the works. an adult was standing in my porch furiously text messaging someone. she could not care less that their little troup had brought along a cat that no one could account for and that cat was now curiously checking out my new living room furniture. i am not a big animal person and to think that this one was actually a street cat... ewwww... the muck he'd been walking in all day was now tracked right into my pristine home. that thought made my skin crawl. after some effort - and with the help of their very disinterested adult guardian - i managed to get the cat out of the house.
i turned the lights off in the living room immdiately and retired to bed with my current read ("the plague" by camus). it was 10:40 pm. my bed very rarely has the privilege of my company at such an early hour of the night.
this is it for me and halloween. as it is, i never dress up because i fail to see the point. On the one hand - i don't understand why one would need to pretend to be something or someone else even if it is for one day. and on the other hand, it is a pagan ritual possibly having to do with ethnic cleansing for all we know. as you can tell, i am wary of these celebrations (like columbus day, april fool's day for instance). western cultural practices with a murky, unclear past are rarely palatable in their approproate historical context.
