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Tuesday Kaffeeklatsch October 27, 2025
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My understanding is that Halloween has become a "thing" around the world, Europe, Japan, etc. And when we were young, it was really a kids' holiday. Now adults spend money on costumes, attend parties. etc. My neighborhood has few kids, since they are small houses mostly with singles, young couples, or retirees.And we are on the end of the block and across from a park. Any activity is on the cross streets, and we get between 0 and 5 kids, which is kind of disappointing compared to our old neighborhood in Minneapols. Plus, many schools, parks, businesses have their own events, such as Trunk or Treat, where parents come to a parking lot and open their trunks, where they have candies and kids just go around there.
I'm not sure if we will even have lights on that night, since my husband is having his long-awaited hip replacement surgery on the 30th and probably staying overnight, coming home the 31st. He might not enjoy an intermittent doorbell ringing.
This time of year is a little weird for me, as my daughter had surgery which revealed Stage 3 ovarian cancer in late October 2019 and came home (with us) to her apartment on Halloween that year. 3 years later, she died on Election Day. My dad also died on an Election Day back in 2004.
The shopping malls and the commercial televisions are pushing hard to make Halloween a thing in Romania, but it hasn't really caught on. I know that there are club parties and reality TV shows, but they are not really my scene. Probably a younger member would have a different perspective.
Personally, I do like to have a pretext to read some spooky novels in October, since the weather often is suggestive of darker material.
Robin P wrote: "This time of year is a little weird for me, as my daughter had surgery which revealed Stage 3 ovarian cancer in late October 2019 and came home (with us) to her apartment on Halloween that year. 3 years later, she died on Election Day. My dad also died on an Election Day back in 2004..."For you, Robin, you should observe Dias des los Muertos, when families visit the graves of those who have passed on from their families by picnics etc. at their graves. Actually you can do the same in your own home, it seems to me. I've always wanted to be somewhere that honors it. I of course am very familiar with All Soul's Day on November 1 from my days in Catholic school - but it was a somber day, centered on confession and a long mass. Dia des los Muertes just seems like a joyous way to honor those still in our hearts.
I also for many years designed and marketed counted cross stitch designs, as well as being a passionate stitcher. In the last few decades, needlework designs for cross stitchers have provided nearly as many Halloween designs to stitch as Christmas, to the point that they are both significant source of income for needlework stores and even designers. However, I learned when I was designing and selling wholesale to the distributors, that it's primarily only in the Northeast of the US that Halloween sells heavily. That there is far less of a market for Halloween elsewhere in the US. Learning that had me decide that any designing on a seasonal theme would be just Christmas - my favorite anyway. I haven't designed anything new in a long time due to my day job demands, and have no inventory of Halloween themed designs at all, so I don't know if it's still primarily limited to the Northeast. I did puzzle about why, ultimately figuring it must tie into Salem and the Salem witches and witch trials. Most of the Halloween needlework designs revolve around witches it seems to me.
Although Hubby qualifies for burial at Arlington, the reason Hubby and I have chosen to be buried at Ft Sam Houston National cemetery in San Antonio, is so that my family can visit us for Dia de los Muertos. My parents are buried there, as are my sister-in-law's parents. And my brother, sis-in-law and her siblings/ inlaws all go to the cemetery to visit the departed then. (And at other times during the year, as well. I make a trip every time I'm in San Antonio.)
More young families were moving into our old neighborhood and trick-or-treating was starting to ramp up again. But it's all retirees in our condo complex and there are no trick-or-treaters. I didn't even bother to buy any candy. Our village has no sidewalks, and VERY few street lights, so trick-or-treating is held on the Sunday afternoon before Halloween. It was this past weekend and I didn't even realize it.
Trying to post a pic of my grandniece in her Halloween dress ...
I posted this on facebook earlier today. It's just easier to copy/paste! (You can probably guess Dr. Kherani was the ophthalmologist/surgeon who did my 4th retina surgery in August.)"It seems Dr. Kherani wants to take the oil out of my eye within the next 3 months. My eye is looking good. At this point, I just wait to hear when they want to book it for."
Great news, Cindy, and BC, thanks for the adorable picture!
Tessa, the your grandniece is adorable!Cindy, that's great news!
Theresa, safe travels.
She is a doll Tessa! Takes after her great-aunt😚
Our neighborhood has turned into young couples, just starting out, no kids. Two years ago I stopped handing out candy. We would only get 4 or 5 kids, and it just wasn't worth it. I do miss it though.
Loving that small person picture, BC! My DIL is a big Halloween fan. Their house decorations went up in September. I made one of my cross country trips the first week of October and made a pumpkin patch trip with my son and his family. My 2 1/2 year old granddaughter has been practicing 'trick or treat' since last spring and her little follow along sister is getting into the swing. They did a 'trunk-or-treat' event last Friday with the girls in items from the dress up box. The actual family themed costumes won't happen until the official event. I'm looking forward to the pictures.
My house is at the top of a very steep hill. Since all of the immediate neighbor's kids have grown up, I don't get trick or treaters. Too much effort for the family's down the hill. I plan to spend the evening calming my nervous dog who picks up on the excitement below us.
Be sure to share the picture, Jgrace, I love I could theme costume!
Cindy--great news! What a fabulous photo, Tessa!Theresa, to answer your question, as the Hallowe'en scrooge I won't be dressing up (I do like to dress up in costumes at times, though) but my eldest daughter has taken over. She'll dress up and dole out the candy she bought (I used to buy the candy so my husband could give it out) which she bagged weeks ago.
We get kids at our door; I was happier when I lived in areas where only the kids on our street came by so I could see the kids I knew in their costumes. I don't know the kids in our neighbourhood now that mine have grown up, so it's not the same anymore. Bah, humbug!
I'm generous for other things, just not giving candy to strangers ;)
While most all were indulging in Halloween in some fashion, I celebrated Días des los Muertos in Santa Fe with friends of my late friend Liz - and acquaintances-now-friends of mine. It has wonderful. Her friend is a world renowned glass artist, Elodie Holmes - www.elodieholmes.com. Her studio, workshop and store are in Santa Fe in an art district she founded. Elodie has for years honored those in her and her partner's and colleagues family andcfriends with her alter, glass works and a party. This year my friend Liz's prtrait joined those on the altar. 
Isn' it fabulous? Liz's photo with 2 of her dogs is on right behind the giant glass chili pepper.
People were there in costume - including her friend John in red hat and his friend gloriously turned out with a feathered hat to die for (he's a costume designer).
I had a good time, badly needed after the too busy with work time here in Santa Fe since I arrived
That is wonderful. I love the Dia de Los Muertos celebration and did it with the preschoolers I taught.I'll see if I can come up with some pictures.
Elodie's studio is called Liquid Light Glass - check out its website too.
I love all the photos. Tessa, your grandniece is so adorable. Theresa, dressing in those costumes looks like fun.
Stanley was in our community Halloween Pet Parade yesterday and won an honorable mention. Some of the pet owners dressed in costumes to match their pets. Treats and toys were awarded to all the pets.
That glass is fabulous, Theresa! You need to commission a dragon from her!Stanly looks like the "tough guy", the pic made me smile this morning
Stanley looks ready to help Hubby "take down" the garden for winter .... Those are some serious pruning shears!
What a fun morning to wake up to!!!! All of these experiences and matching photos are just fabulous!
I have an innate problem with looking at most snakes, spiders, realistic fake surgery on TV, horror movies and death images, even after dissecting a number of animals in university with no qualms and later holding a "dangerous" snake once because I'm no longer afraid of them. I can't abide looking at those things. I even once watched my dad perform an autopsy with a university friend (he was a surgeon, but did a year of pathology residency so he could do all non-forensic autopsies in my home area before it was large enough to have a specialist live up there.) I'm not afraid of blood and am excellent in emergencies (never panic, even when my son was choking I moved calmly so as not to alarm him,) so don't understand this. I'm guessing Amy would understand a lot more about this than I do!
Therefore I had to quickly pass that colourful image--sorry, Theresa.
Joanne wrote: "That glass is fabulous, Theresa! You need to commission a dragon from her!Stanly looks like the "tough guy", the pic made me smile this morning"
She makes Dragon Eggs.... check her website.
Oh Stanley looks fabulous! Clearly he runs with scissors! @Karin - NP. Everyone has something.
I only found out this afternoon that the guy in the Musketeer hat and lace ruffles was the costume designer and makeup artist for the Santa Fe Opera Company! Had I known, I would have plied him with questions!
I haven't figured out how to post pics, but here are links to some of my Dia de los Muertos pics from when I was working. We would talk about how Monarch butterflies were important to the festival and how they travel so far to get to Mexico for the winter. We did masks and read books about Dia de los Muertos.https://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/...
https://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/...
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Booknblues wrote: "I haven't figured out how to post pics, but here are links to some of my Dia de los Muertos pics from when I was working. We would talk about how Monarch butterflies were important to the festival ..."Thanks for these pictures! Those kids were lucky to have you as their teacher. You didn't quite make me miss teaching, but you helped me remember why I loved it.
Jgrace wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "I haven't figured out how to post pics, but here are links to some of my Dia de los Muertos pics from when I was working. We would talk about how Monarch butterflies were importa..."Know the feeling Judith, as I was quite tired by the time I retired.
Love the photos! As a kid I would have loved it. BnB - since you uploaded them as photos to GR, to inset into a comment, you right click (computer) or tap (device) on photo in GR, then click/tap on 'open image in new window' in dropdown. This opens a newwindow with you photo, giving you the .jpeg URL you need to copy to insert in a comment.
Now just follow the formula for images in the 'some html is ok' link at top of comment: start with < then immediately img src="insert URL" There are no spaces in it EXCEPT between img and src. I had to write it this way so html will show,
That's it.
Feel free to practice here.
Those masks the kids made are fabulous! Thanks for sharing them.
Theresa wrote: "@Karin - NP. Everyone has something."
Sometimes I forget that everyone has something.
My building has a couple of new babies in it but no children who would trick or treat. Even the teens are too old for it now. Even were I to be home this year, there would not be any.
However, I'm going to be in Santa Fe - another trip to deal with my friend's estate. I timed this trip to overlap Halloween and Dia des los Muertos, deliberately booking into a hotel right on The Plaza where whatever special events will occur are 'right there'. Even if my room does not overlook, I need only walk out the door, enjoy, then retreat back into the peace of the hotel when it overwhelms me (crowded places do). In all the times I have visited there over the years, I have never been there for this time.
NYC is seeing some Halloween decorations - you need to head to the side streets where brownstones are located to see stoops and handkerchief front yards/courts decorated. Some blocks set up for a Halloween Trick or Treating party for the block's kids, which is fun to see. One year I was in a small town on the coast north of Salem for Halloween and happened to drive through the main streets of town as all the town kids went store to store trick or treating - it was adorable! All the lightpoles in town were decorated for Halloween too - ghosts, even a grim reaper and a witch, were attached along with cornstalks and pumpkins at the base. I once about 40 years ago was in Salem for Halloween and it was a lot of fun and not particularly crowded or chaotic. However, I would never go near Salem in October now -- it's crazy. A friend who lives there says the locals basically go into hiding in October.
I also spent Halloween in Paris one year about 20 years ago -- and didn't expect to see anything as Paris, and Europe in general, wasn't known for celebrating it as we do. I was stunned to see how much they have adopted it - but different. Don't know about the tradition of trick-or-treating - but the area around the Arc de Triomphe and under the Eiffel Tower were covered with pumpkins to buy, and cafe and store windows were decorated for the holiday - mostly images painted on the glass windows and doors, but a few webs, pumpkins, black cats, and more. On Halloween itself, you saw most in costumes limited to face paint and hats, some capes, but not the full character costumes we do. I'm sure that's evolved over the last 20 or more years.