Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here...

Hmm, I better explain, "lolly" is the word for "candy" here.  And after I picked the title of this post, I realized some people may not have such fond memories of the School House Rock movies that I do.  I so remember watching those videos in elementary (videos...good old fashion, bulky VHS tapes) of School House Rock.  Teaching me all the basic fundamentals of grammar-- like the Lolly, Lolly Adverbs song and Conjunction Junction What's Your Function?  And many other educational ditties that gave my teachers (I realize now) a much needed 30 minutes to collect themselves and hopefully have a cold Coke-- or perhaps something stronger :) to get through the rest of the day!  Anyway, back to my post.

 Ok, so Halloween here is strange.. and not in a spooky strange Halloween way.  Halloween is in it's early stages of growth here.  How weird to be witnessing the beginnings of holiday traditions in a nation?  It's so odd to hear people say, "Yah, Halloween is just kinda starting to catch on here in Australia.  It's never really been an Aussie holiday.  But in the last few years it's kind of started to get recognized."  Anyone who knows me well, realizes there would be no love lost for me if Halloween disappeared...but alas, my children.  I have to love it for them!  I normally love it only for the traditional neighborhood soup party I host in an effort to more fully enjoy the holiday, but I didn't even have that here.  Halloween here is warm and tropical.  And Aussies ONLY know about zombies and death and blood when it comes to celebrating the holiday.  To start us into the Halloween spirit, we carved....our watermelons!  It's spring/summer here, remember?  So pumpkins are out of season and very expensive to buy as such.  So, we went with the more seasonal fruit and carved a melon. Why not? When I bought it I told the cashier what I was doing with it and she laughed and laughed and said, "You Americans and your carving at Halloween!"  She then proceeded to give me all kinds of advice on how "she" would carve a melon.  She gave me a very novel idea, "I would cut a hold in the top, like a hat, and remove it to scoop out the insides. Then you could put the top back on like a lid.  It would be so much easier to scoop the fruit out the top rather than through the holes you make for eyes and nose."   Thank you oh wise and ob-wan carving one!  She, my friends, is ahead of her time in this Australian world of Halloween traditions!  I just nodded to her and thanked her for the advice....saved me tons of headache trying to scoop watermelon out of Syd's jack-o-lantern star eyes ;)  Oh Australia...you have a ways to go to catch the morbid Americans that love the season of the dead.   And fyi... watermelon is 1000 times more fun to carve!  Softer rinds, and way, way, better guts to eat!  If I can find watermelons, I'll be carving them every year.  

 

 We ended up borrowing "dress ups" from a family in our ward, who laughed and said, "You're kids are wearing our dress ups for Halloween?  Don't spill red blood paint on our princess dress!"  People here don't think it's a Halloween costume without some death and gore involved.  Or at least a broom to make it a little witchy.  Oaklee was just thrilled to have some new lovely locks.  And may I just say-- this wig was ten times heavier than her.  It only lasted about half of trunk or treat.  She could barely hold her head up.  And Syd opted for a kimono we found and some bamboo sticks for her hair.  There is such a huge Asian population here, I wondered how it would go over...hopefully they are as flattered to see a Caucasian blondie dressed as a geisha as I am to see their children in cowboy hats and chaps dressed as an American Western cowboy!!!  :)  Parker was really on the fence this year.  He said, "Man I so don't want to dress up but I really want the lollies!"     

In the end, he couldn't leave the idea of the lollies and opted for your basic construction worker.  Just enough to get some lollies not enough to draw attention.  Except that here...if you weren't a zombie, vampire or witch...you were standing out.  It was so funny to see little 3 and 4 year olds at a church sponsored trunk or treat (we finally found one about 30 minutes away from us) dressed as zombie cheerleaders (blood dripping from red lips on white faces) or a witch and if you wanted to be a princess...you could, but wear a pointy hat with your gown and carry a broom.  There were princess witches, superman witches, batman witches etc. It was hilarious.  I couldn't believe the gore at the church function.  My kids were the only ones not in masks, not carrying weapons and not having gory make up...boy did we feel sheepish!  Lex and I were just chuckling the whole time.  The lady in the car next to me ran out of lollies and said to me, "I cannot believe how much bigger it is this year.  Trick or treating is really catching on here.  I mean I bought 80 pieces of candy and they are gone!"  I thought about last year in Albuquerque buying 500 pieces and knowing I'd run out.  In Brisbane I bought 200 and felt nervous.  I knew trick or treating wasn't big so I was hoping 200 pieces would be enough.  I guess I'm ahead of my time still.  In fact, trick or treating doesn't really happen here at all without a lot of pre-planning. Some wards (those with American families) set up a trunk or treat.  Like I mentioned, I could only find one that was within 30 minutes of us.  There were tons of Aussie families there too getting in on the action.  But trick or treating in neighborhoods usually doesn't happen.  I was told, "If you want your kids to trick or treat, you usually have to ask your neighbors if they want to participate.  Leave a balloon with them, then if they decide they are willing, they will blow up the balloon and tie it to their porch so you know they are up for the trick or treaters.  Also, you would need to provide the lollies for them to give your kids."  Wellllll, that's way too much work for one that is not a true lover in the first place.  We opted for trunk or treat.  It was funny to see the treats my kids got.  Some unwrapped gummy worms, big gum balls (no wrapper) and homemade cookies-- yah, the new "rules" for Halloween still haven't reached the Down Under.  It was just like being back in the good old days when people handed out homeade doughnuts and hot cider or hot chocolate to warm you up at the doorstep.   I guess at the end of the day, Halloween was a night of memories for us.  And let's be honest, it was worth it just to see Oaklee's tiny little face peering out of that sea of blond, Dolly Parton curls--synthetic locks swallowing her whole!  Hooray for last minute costumes!