My Favorite Night of the Year

It’s already November in these parts, but Sly and I agreed that Halloween could extend through today on account that it’s still technically Halloween back in the states and because it’s my favorite day of the year.

Last year we bought a couple bags of candy thinking that there may be the smallest of chances that we would get a few Korean trick-o-treaters, but nobody ever showed up. Of all the Halloween traditions, I think seeing kids roaming the streets in rag tag costumes is what I most miss about celebrating Halloween in Korea. It’s not like Halloween isn’t celebrated in Asia – we saw plenty of stores that sold Halloween decor and bags of candy – but it seems geared more towards a party/going out crowd. Sadly, we have yet to see a kid dressed up and toting a pumpkin, which is such a shame, because seriously, how cool would it be to have a haunted elevator (Sly could dress up as David S. Pumpkins), given that we live in a high rise apartment?

This year we didn’t even bother with the candy because we knew full-well we would end up eating an entire bag while watching our marathon of scary movies. Instead, we ordered Korean-style fried chicken, decorated our house with our new clearance rack Halloween purchases, and forced our kitties to wear some costumes in exchange for tons of treats.

did somebody say “costume?”

I’m not much of a DIY-er/crafter/nester/holiday decorator. I like looking at Martha Stewart magazine from time to time, or wandering the aisles of Target, but when it comes to my own home, I’m pretty indifferent. My big dream would be to one day have the ultimate Edgar Allen Poe-era creepy Victorian haunted house, but knowing me, I would never take down the decorations and we would be living in a haunted house 365 days a year. Not that I would necessarily mind…

Until then, we have picked up a few pieces of Halloween decor along the way, and given that I’m not hugely into Christmas (I like it, but not in the way most people love it), my Halloween collection is quickly outgrowing my Xmas decorations. The ghost, bat, and kitty with blinking/glowing eyes are the newest additions to my collection. Of course, the kitty is my favorite.

And now for the scariest part of Halloween: our bootleg “costumes.”

A couple weeks ago I found these two ugly masks at a dollar store downtown. Given my love for horrific latex masks, I snapped them up right away. When I returned home to try them on, I realized that one of the masks fit ok, while the other was made for someone with a head at least 2x as long as mine. I guess that’s what you get for $1.75.

Enjoy!

note: the mouth of my mask is located where my chin is. great quality control, guys.

October was much warmer than I remembered it being last year, but on Halloween day, there was a crispness and chill in the air that made us don our sweatshirts and fuzzy Halloween socks and drink huge cups of Jeju Hoji green tea lattes . We ended up only watching one movie from my Halloween movie list, Tales of Halloween, (though we have been watching scary movies all month long) along with some Halloween specials like the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror, and ate a couple pieces of candy. Tonight, on Halloween, the Sequel, I hope to do more of the same.

And for those who celebrate it, ¡Feliz Día de Los Muertos! ❤