When my 4-year-old daughter asked me in February if our family could dress all up as “Wizard of Oz” characters for Halloween, I agreed, thinking that she would forget all about it by March. However, for the past eight months, she has told friends, family members and random people we meet on the street, that she was going to be Dorothy, her brother was going to be the Cowardly Lion, her daddy was going to be Scarecrow and her mommy was going to be Glinda the Good Witch for Halloween.
And because I believe it is important to keep your promises to your children, we did. It took hours of searching for a dress, numerous trips to Goodwill, and a few finger prick injuries from my attempts at sewing, but on Halloween night, the characters from The Wizard of Oz stepped out onto the streets of Country Club and greeted their royal friends and neighbors. This was what they saw when they opened the door to their homes…
After an hour of trick-or-treating and taking numerous photos with neighbors that I’m sure will be used against me at a later date, we retreated home to hand out our own candy. My daughter plopped herself on my lap and loved every minute of putting candy in kid’s pillowcases and bags, while asking the ones with scary masks, “Can you please show me your face?” They all obliged and we were spared an evening of nightmares because of it.
She then ran around the yard on a sugar high and my husband and I imagined that this is what she would look like if she was allowed to drink coffee. And we loved every minute of it. To see her joy and happiness for this amazing holiday was awesome. When I took the dress off at the end of the night, she looked up at me and said, “Mommy, you looked beautiful.”
I tried to hold back my laughter because the dress might have been the most horrendous thing I have ever worn and my hat was constantly getting stuck near tree branches and fans. But to her, I looked like Glinda the Good Witch. That’s the best part of Halloween. You can truly be something different and in the eyes of children, for those few hours, they believe it.
Danielle Herzog is married and a mother to two children. Read her every Wednesday on momaha.
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