This Is Halloween

We are almost at the 10 year anniversary of our move here to New Zealand, and I've been wanting to write some posts reflecting on what we've learned and how we've settled in here.  Mostly, the posts are just floating around in my head - we'll see how many of them I'll actually write down!


So, we'll start with Halloween 2016.  You'll note I didn't add a picture at the top of this post.  Why?  Well...there's really nothing to take a picture of, sadly.

Halloween simply has not taken off here like other foreign celebrations (read: Octoberfest & Guy Fawkes) have.  In fact, there's still quite a lot of grumbling about it being an "American" holiday, with some people actually offended that children would go door to door asking for candy.  There are some minor Halloween-related events held by the City government, but they are always targeted towards children.  Very few people decorate their houses/yards, and only one person dressed up at my workplace.

There were a few years where it seemed Halloween was getting more popular - we'd see Halloween themed candy in the grocery stores as well as in the primary household-y type store (The Warehouse), along with a few basic costume accessories.  But this year, it seemed less popular.  We struggled to find suitable candy to hand out (to the kids who didn't show up anyway), and noted that all the stores had already set up their Xmas displays.

Yes, we thought we'd get some trick-or-treaters this year!  Mainly due to all the kids who appeared last Halloween when we were travelling in the US and our friends were watching the house,  but also because a new registry popped up on-line for people to indicate that they were open to trick-or-treaters. But only four kids came around, two of whom were our neighbors across the street.   Apparently the wealthier streets in our suburb attracted all the candy seekers.  Well...can't blame them. That is actually a good tactic!

Still, even as much as I miss Halloween, I miss celebrating it in Autumn.  The evenings are dark and chilly, the trees have shed many of their brightly colored leaves and there's that particular smell in the air that hints at a slowing of time.  It is my favorite holiday, and has been for as long as I can remember.  I really didn't know how much I'd miss it, or how wrong it feels during the Spring.  We often plan our US trips to coincide with Halloween for this reason.  Perhaps we'll see some of you next year...

A pic of us in 2013 wearing the last elaborate costumes we made (at Disney World).