I really kind of hate Halloween. I don’t like wearing costumes myself for any reason and thus, can’t imagine why anyone else would. I also hate purposely scary things, and I don’t get why anyone would want to decorate their house or yard with faux-macabre stuff like tombstones or bloody limbs sticking up out of the ground. What’s fun or decorative about dead or limbless people? Can anyone explain that to me?

But I have long ago accepted that pretty much everyone else I know (with the exception of my husband, who shares my antipathy toward Halloween) seems to really enjoy all the things I just listed – the dressing up, the skeletons hanging from their trees, etc. And that includes my kids, who have always really enjoyed the whole Halloween thing.

I don’t ever want them to feel deprived, so over the years, I’ve begrudgingly carved pumpkins, bought or created costumes for them, and taken them trick or treating. I do, however, draw the line at purchasing or displaying any decorative reminders of death, decay, terror or bodily harm around our house and yard. My kids always seem to have a great time on Halloween, even if their mother refuses to string up plastic eyeball lights or wear a witch’s hat while handing out Halloween candy. They accept my Halloween limits, just as I accept their enthusiasm for October 31.

Now that my older kids are teenagers, they kind of do their own thing on Halloween night – with my input an approval, of course. Tonight, for example, both J and E hung out with friends across town, and then J brought E home around 10 pm. J dressed up for the night, while E did not.

But the two youngest are – at 5 and 2 – just beginning their prime, parent-overseen trick or treating years, and as one would predict, they find the whole thing quite thrilling. So over the past few weeks, we decided on costumes for this year, and tonight I took C and G trick or treating with the Knoxville cousins, along with some friends over in the friends’ rather posh and very friendly neighborhood (the same one where J and E were celebrating with their own pals). Jon was happy to stay back at Casa Hickju for the evening to man the doorbell and candy bowl for any trick or treaters who came calling at our house. (As it turned out, we apparently had 20x our normal trick or treating volume this year. He said we almost ran out of candy.)

As much as I usually dislike and simply tolerate Halloween, I have to say that I actually had an awesome time tonight. Our friends’ neighborhood was perfect for kids to trick or treat, and all the children were in excellent moods. No one melted down or began whining that a seam in their costume was rubbing or their shoes were too tight. Plus, the hazy full moon was gorgeous in a clear night sky, and the weather was perfect – cool but not too cold. I’d have to say this was the most fun I’ve ever had taking any of my children to collect candy and treats on Halloween. Oh! Plus I ran into a kid about 10 or 11 years old out trick or treating in a pitch-perfect Arnold Horshack costume. How awesome is that?!

Following are a few choice photos from our Halloween 2012, AKA “The Year Katie Actually Had Fun”

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After a minute or so of repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, instructing 2 year old G to hand over a ring which she’d somehow gotten hold of, and which belongs to her teenage sister, I say to her…

ME, very sternly: “G, do you want to go to time-out?”

G, with a big grin: “Yep!”

This one – kid #5 – apparently came with an entirely different set of instructions than did her 4 older siblings. Clearly, I’m still studying them to learn the ropes.

I know that some of you have Twitter accounts that you rarely use or check, while others of you may not have ever seen any reason to sign up for/use Twitter.

But I’m telling you, now is the time to get on Twitter. Sign up for a (totally free) account for the first time, or sign in to the one you’ve rarely used.

Why? Because Twitter is absolutely THE best, fastest way right now for anyone, anywhere to keep up with the real-time coverage of Hurricane Sandy, including the latest info on locating shelters, how to help storm victims, how to locate and connect with loved ones who may be missing, and more.

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I know that I have friends & readers & commenters who are in the path of Sandy tonight. Our whole family’s thoughts are very much with you.

Take good care. Be safe. Lots & lots of prayers all over the planet are going up for you tonight.

xo,

Katie

This is a very painful thing for me to discuss – publicly or privately – but it’s important. I strongly suspect that what happened to our family has also happened to many other bereaved East Tennessee families – families which remain totally unaware that the remains of their autopsied loved ones were substantially not whole when laid to rest.

I raise this terrible issue today because of what has now come to light regarding the medical examiner’s office in NYC. A Freedom of Information Act has revealed that the rights and dignity of THOUSANDS of NYC-area families have been abused by the ME’s office in the most awful way imaginable, and virtually none of them are aware of it.

Unfortunately, this exact thing happened to our family when my teenage son died in the spring of 2010. I did not learn that my child’s remains were not whole when the Knox County ME released his body to us until months later when I received the complete autopsy report, and happened to stumble on this horrifying information buried in a single line in the report, and couched in medical-speak. I easily – very easily could have missed it.

This situation has required intervention with the Knox County ME’s office by two attorneys on our family’s behalf in order to have my son’s missing remains returned. Needless to say, this situation has caused me, and continues to cause me grief of a type and magnitude I cannot really describe. I live with it every day, on top of the grief of losing my oldest child.

Again, this is a very sensitive, painful thing for me to share, and I certainly understand that it’s not the type of thing that anyone wants to discuss. However, I feel that it’s important for me to speak up because other bereaved families who have had their loved ones autopsied by the Knox County Medical Examiner need to know what happened to us, so they can decide whether they wish to find out whether it also happened to them.

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Remember a few months ago when I shared the brand new and incredibly beautiful official logo for Henry’s Fund?

Well, last night I was on hand to see Robin Easter and her designer Nick Romanos, who has been the primary creative force behind the beautiful logo above (as well as for the soon-to-be-unveiled new website), as they were honored by their peers in the design community for their identity and branding work on behalf of Henry’s Fund. I was so proud for them, and of them, and I remain grateful beyond measure for all that Robin and her team have done and continue to do to support HF.

Here I am with Nick and Robin at the awards ceremony. 

 Huge thanks not only to Robin Easter Design, but to every single person who has donated their tiime, talents, or hard-earned dollars to Henry’s Fund. With your help, and with the expert oversight and guidance of the wonderful East Tennessee Foundation,  since 2011, Henry’s Fund has awarded more than $20,000 in cash grants to our first partner programs, Helen Ross McNabb Canter and Florence Crittenton.  All Henry’s Fund grants to partner programs are directed to pay the costs of drug addiction treatment for young people between the ages of 12 and 23.

For more information about Henry’s Fund, please consider becoming a Henry’s Fund Facebook friend.

I would.

And a bunch of other folks did, too.

E and his younger cousins had pretty darn good luck last weekend convincing attendees at the Arts and Crafts Fair in Bell Buckle that they needed these hats. My little brother Robert fronted the money to the kids so they could stock the booth (plus he let them set up in his yard), and all the kids made a nice profit after repaying Robert’s venture capital.

I adore this boy

I’m already getting excited about Christmas (because I am a bit of a Christmas maniac, as I’ve admitted before), and other people must be too, because I’m hearing from quite a few crafters, brands and retailers who would like me to check out cool stuff they make or sell, and review it here on my blog.

I’m sorting thru all of the emails I’m receiving to find the absolute neatest things – stuff that I think y’all might actually be interested in reading about as potential holiday gift ideas, and over the next 8 weeks, you will see a higher-than-usual number of review posts from me, both here on Mamapundit and also over at my Babble blog.

And here’s the best news (I think): with most of these holiday season review posts from me, there will be a giveaway for YOU of the same item I am reviewing. So that should be fun, I hope. I’m lining up some really spiffy items for these upcoming reader giveaways, and I’m excited.

Stay tuned!