"But it's been no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise, I consider it a challenge before all the human race and I ain't gonna lose..." Queen

Blogger makes it impossible to correct spacing when I post photos, so scroll the entire way down to see the ghosts of Halloween past.


When it comes to Halloween, we are the champions, my friends.

Harrison, aka Poppin' Fresh, was called up to stand with the winners on the parade platform, although there was some confusion as to whether he was a boy or a girl. They were unsure in what category he should be placed - such is the life of the boy who refuses to cut his hair. (scroll down)






Poppin' Fresh was an odd choice for a Halloween costume, but it was Harrison's idea. He did tire of being poked in the belly, but he had the, "woo hoo" giggle response down pat.

I thought the costume was a little freaky, like he might bludgeon someone to death with a rolling pin. (scroll down)

In the girl category, Eden won first place. Now she can retire undefeated. Sadly, Eden is now 12 years old, and although there are not official rules on this, I think she is aging out of the competition.

From her humble beginnings as a two year old bird in Amityville, New York, each year Eden has dominated the competition. This year was no exception.

Eden's mermaid headpiece sparkled like crazy in the sun. There is still a very fine dust of glitter throughout the house. The seaweed pieces provided a lot of movement as she walked. (scroll down again)

Costume making was certainly no bed of roses this year. My good old trusty White sewing machine bit the dust midway through the mermaid skirt late Wednesday night. First thing Thursday morning I ran out and bought a new Singer sewing machine to finish the job.

I love the new machine. It ran so easily that I finished in no time. I have since planned several sewing projects to finish before the holidays. I may even make new curtains and get Eden started on aprons and doll clothes. (scroll down again)
















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I offer thanks to Sister Mary Ejaculata, who pulled a couple of photos from the files to provide us with this little Halloween blast from the past.

Damn Blogger and the spacing issue!




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I am not normally a competitive person, but I do enjoy creating the winning costumes each year. It all started back when I decided not to carry infant Harrison the entire Ragamuffin Parade route. We turned the Exer-saucer into a nest and made him a baby bird. This created a trend in Amityville. The following year several parents made floats for their little ones. Eden's bird feet were created from Playtex gloves. She had a great chicken strut that year. (scroll again)






Being a garden gnome was so much fun that Harrison repeated the costume two years in a row.






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Another favorite costuming year was when we celebrated the opening of Krispy Kreme by making Harrison a doughnut and Eden a cup of coffee.
The coffee cup was made from a laundry basket. For trick or treating she wore little black tights and a turtleneck and the cup bobbed up and down when she ran down the street. She looked like the cartoons of the dancing food they used to show at the drive-in. Harrison's doughnut was much better up close than in the photo here. It was iced with white paint and the sprinkles were colorful pipe cleaners that I cut up. This photo was taken when we went in to Krispy Kreme to get his tee shirt to wear under the doughnut, as well as their paper hats. The shirt had been in the store so long that when he took it out of the package it smelled like doughnuts! People could smell his costume and it was really funny. He was so aromatic!

Here's to my favorite holiday, Halloween. I hope yours was as much fun as mine.