Happy Halloween

Halloween has always been a big to-do in my family. My mother indulged her children and let us turn our modest apartment living room into a creepy haunted house. Even on a budget, a few fake cobwebs, some dry ice, and colorful scarves draped over lampshades transformed the room.

My mother made amazing treats. Candied eyeballs in glass jars, chocolate treats shaped like spiders, and festively colored baked goods to dapple the table where my brother’s gruesome severed head waited to “BOO!” those reaching for one of the tempting goodies. The shrieks, screams, and laughter solidified the holiday as one of my favorites.

While I no longer decorate for Halloween, mostly because we live on the top floor of a rather tall building and we don’t tend to get trick-or-treaters, I do my best to pay homage in other ways. Because this is my first post, I was leery about diving right in with a costume; but I simply couldn’t resist the temptation.

This year’s outfit: “Mina Murray” from the 1992 film adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”. The costume is an Etsy-purchased, hand-stitched version of the gorgeous Victorian outfit that “Mina” (Winona Ryder) wore when she encountered “Count Dracula” (Gary Oldman) on the bustling city streets of London. And what a perfect film to set the holiday mood.