User post: Celebrating an imperfect Halloween

This week promises to get a little crazy for many of us moms. Halloween is upon us, and I realize that I haven't done (yet again) many of the things I'd planned to do to celebrate the holiday--take my daughter to a pumpkin patch, make vintage-inspired decorations (or at least go to Michael's to get them), and plan a little party for her and her friends, complete with a preschool-appropriate haunted house. Of course, I realize this was all pretty ambitious to begin with, and I didn't really expect that it would happen--I work full time and am really not that crafty to begin with. I'm just grateful that I actually planned ahead this year and bought her costume early and don't have to do the mad scramble to find something appropriate. But, with or without any supermom ambitions, the week is shaping up to be a little nuts. Yesterday, there was cookie-decorating with her cousin and a scary-kid-movie fest (and a Sat. sleepover). Thursday, I'm bringing her to the office kid's party for the first time (it's a long drive and it's always seemed daunting in years past).Then on Friday is her school party, which means sending her with her costume in a paper bag to be put on after nap. Saturday--the day before Halloween promises to be a sort of Christmas Eve-style precursor to the Big Day, with lots of events around our neighborhood. Halloween itself is a family party and then trick-or-treating en masse in a crowded neighborhood. And don't even get me started on the Giants playing in the World Series--my whole city is going to be a madhouse for the next few days.

I've always loved Halloween, especially the kid-centric aspects of it--trick-or-treating, getting scared (and not admitting it), watching "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin" and the sense of magic and darkness the holiday conjures. I always imagined how much fun I'd have with my own kid, decorating the house, carving pumpkins, making costumes. This is what I now remind myself of as I get into the thick of the holiday--I have to take a breath and remember that this is the fun stuff, and as I contemplate everything we'll be doing this weekend, I try to remember not to overdo it--she's still little, and can only take so much--and so can I--and to also slow down and appreciate what I love most about the season. And not eat too much candy (either of us). And if I'm not really the super-mom I'd once envisioned (I've never made her costume, and we haven't actually carved a pumpkin, but one day...)

Today, I had planned to pick Alice up early and take her to that aforementioned pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay--a staggeringly beautiful half hour drive down the coast. It's something I swore would become a family tradition (I blogged about this recently), but we let it slide last year, and since her class went already this year to a little patch in town, it's easy to let it go. I really wanted to do it today (and the weather was perfect), but as I closed my work computer for the day (having logged on at 6am), I realized I was just too tired to make the trek alone, and that we might have to just be happy with some pumpkins picked up at Safeway, and maybe some decorations from Walgreen's. Her costume may not be home-made, but the rest of the holiday will have to be.

Are you doing anything special to get ready for Halloween?