Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!

The Pardys are all over their colds from last week - back from the dead and ready to eat candy! It's Halloween!

Like most Americans, we will be celebrating in full-fledged pumpkin fashion, dressing up our children (so we have something to blackmail them with later in life) and parading them around, freely exploiting them so as to obtain obscene amounts of candy! Hooray! Yes, parents MUST have invented Halloween...well, scheming children who then grew up to become parents who still maintained their childhood passion for all things sugar, at least!

And, speaking of embarrassing...let me just cut to the chase and let you know now that this is going to be a blog (though, short as it may be) that will most likely go down in blog history. The kind of blog you pass onto your friends. The sort of post you might dog-ear/bookmark on your browser so that you can click on it when you need a good laugh in the middle of a hum-drum day. If you think I'm joking, then you haven't scrolled far enough down to see what I'm talking about.

I grew up in a very creative family. My mom is not only an excellent seamstress, she is also a bargain hunter. I'm gonna guess that, oh, back in say 1984 or so there was some brown corduroy on sale...probably right next to a rick-rack 2 for 1 deal...and an idea was born.

Now, still, to this day, I don't know if this was a trick or a treat for her. Did she actually think this was cute - or did she know that someday she could use this photo to make sure neither of us would ever be allowed to run for office or be famous (or make normal friends)??? Certainly, I was too young to take any blame. My sister (bless her) was most likely bribed into yet another "matching her sister" scenario with promises of candy or toys, or who knows what (a new Atari game? a new Easy Bake oven recipe?)

Nevertheless, that Halloween, we became: THE GINGERBREAD SISTERS

Be afraid, be very afraid! We will come and steal your children at night! Ok- maybe not - but can you stop cringing long enough to laugh, or can you stop laughing long enough to cringe? (I know - it's okay - it still creeps me out quite a bit too.)

Either way, it is a humdinger of a Halloween memory, and I'd say I have the photo to prove it.

I'd like to take a chance later in the week to reflect more on Halloween growing up (clearly, this photo leaves much to be discussed) and include some photos of tonight - when I get to embarrassingly dress up my own girls and then steal their candy (did I say steal? I meant share).

Until then, I hope this memory has been a treat for you. Now, what are you waiting for??? That candy is not going to eat itself!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!