Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Happy Halloween My Deer



My daughter loves Halloween. When she was a little girl, we had the hugest neighborhood Halloween parties at our house in Greensboro, they could beat Martha Stewart hands down. I was a seriously over achieving mom back in the day. Invitations went out in the form of treat bags in everyone's mail box, sometimes with a scavenger hunt attached, or a riddle book, over the top, really. We had a hay ride courtesy of the Foster's wagon, we had a haunted trail thanks to Gerry and Rusty and John, superdads. The moms hung out at my house drinking wine while the dads took the kids out and scared the crap out of them, sometimes literally haha. Lisa and Lisa, my pals. I made pizzas, Lisa F. brought popcorn balls and sweets, Lisa W. brought the alcohol! In later years, we all went for the hay ride and brought the alcohol along with us. 

The party got bigger and bigger every year, people started inviting themselves, the more the merrier. The last one we had was the last day in our house in Greensboro. The furniture was in the moving truck, the house was empty, perfect for a haunting! We sat in the living room on the floor, ate pizza, cried, laughed, said goodbye. Those parties spoiled my child. Every year I get emails from my pals reminding me that their kids still long for those parties too. Wesley still wants a Halloween like that every year and sometimes it just doesn't happen. This year she had a great costume idea, she wanted to be Bambi, after seeing the movie at school. Great! Where is she going to go to be Bambi at school!?

I was so worried about her holiday this year, a new year in her own house, at college, how was that going to work out? Apparently just fine. I got this text  and pic the other night around 11:30.
" Hi mom, going to a party, my costume worked out great!" I brought her some tree branches from Linville for her antlers since she has no trees in her yard. She wore a brown velvet dress and did her makeup.  I love this child! 

Wesley would always disappear into her room the day before Halloween and come out with some amazing outfit. No store bought costumes for us. When we moved to Charlotte we had the luxury of the costume shop at the Charlotte Rep. That first year on our own without our friends Wes came up with a Pirates of the Caribbean costume ala Johnny Depp and won a look alike contest at a local store. 
We were still sad, missing our friends. so we got in the car and drove to Greensboro. We did this for a few years until Wesley could find her way in a new place.

Tomorrow is Halloween and Gerry will be shooting some sporting event, basketball or hockey, I forget. Our neighborhood is not of the trick or treat variety, so I plan to turn out all the lights and watch a good movie. What I would like to do is get in my car and go see my Lisas. I sure do miss those pals of mine the most around this time of year. We raised out kids together and gave them an enchanted childhood on Hunter's Glen. I can only hope for the same for Wesley and her own family one day.....

Happy Halloween!

12 comments:

Dennis Allen said...

Bambi never looked better. Have a happy Halloween.

Tracey Broome said...

Cute, right? Happy Halloween to you too Dennis!!

cookingwithgas said...

darn cute!

Tracey Broome said...

I know, I know :-)

Sandy Miller said...

Quite mystically cute!
Great memories...... We used to take all the neighborhood kids around for trick or treat. One of the other Moms always pulled a wagon and always in some costume. The third year Butch went with her. He came home laughing! Do you know what Edy has in that wagon? A COOLER! He never missed trick or treat duty again!

Anna M. Branner said...

She looks fantastic!

Ah the good ole' days. I remember my brothers and I leaving the house together and covering the entire army post! I don't remember Mom and Dad ever coming along. Safer back then I guess.

Tracey Broome said...

Sandy I would be hanging with that mom, haha!
Anna, I know, my mom sent me out the door and we roamed for miles. I remember one year when I was younger, she hired a babysitter to take me out, ugh. I loved going out with the kids, I even had my own bag for candy!

Lori Buff said...

She did a great job. Fantastic costume.

Susan Wells said...

what a beauty Deer!!

Tracey Broome said...

Yes! she's a cutie pie!

Michèle Hastings said...

Wesley looks adorable!
I love halloween and there weren't any store bought costumes in my house either.

Shannon said...

elegant and lovely vision of deer.