The Happy Homemaker

It seems to be that our family Halloween tradition is to move to a new city and then find a place to go trick or treating. We drive around until we find a neighborhood with large homes and go there. Usually you find in the “rich” neighborhoods older couples and empty nesters who love to see the children in cute costumes. We also always go to the Ward Halloween parties to get to know the people in our new wards.

Every year we move around Halloween. In 2004, I moved to Ewa Beach. We went trick or treating in Mililani because we knew they have huge Halloween parties there in the Mililani Town Center. Victoria was Jasmine and Jon Jon was a sailor. Then I went to the Mililani ward’s trunk or treat because theirs are huge! The whole neighborhood comes.

In 2005, we lived in Queens, NY. That was more tricky. We decided to go trick or treating around our block that year. We went trick or treating at all of the small stores in our neighborhood. The kids wore traditional Uzbek clothing that Aziz bought when we was in Uzbekistan the month before. It was a lot of fun because we saw those shop owners almost everyday. The Indian shops in Little India would give the kids bangles and quarters instead of candy. Aziz took Jon Jon home while Victoria and I stopped at the Indian grocery to buy something. As I was walking home I stopped to talked to some Bangladeshi neighbors who were wondering why Aziz was not Muslim when Aziz ran up to me without Jon Jon. He told me he got locked out of the apartment with Jon Jon inside. We had to call the police. Many policemen and firemen came to get Jon Jon out of the apartment. We finally got in and we found Jon Jon covered in candy and candy wrappers all over the place. We also went to our new wards Halloween party. The Spanish branch was meeting in the gym and had a DJ with many people dancing. The Astoria Ward met in the nursery. We missed the trunk or treat. We heard that there was only three or four cars there anyways. We still got some candy and saw John Heder who is from Napoleon Dynamite there. The costumes were some of the best I have seen.

In 2006, we moved to Louisville. I had another baby by then. It was raining. We went to the nearby “rich” neighborhood. Aziz and Aron stayed in the van while Victoria, Jon Jon, and I ran from house to house. We got the best candy that year. Afterwards, we went to our favorite Chinese buffet. Victoria was Sleeping Beauty and Jon Jon was the red Power Ranger. We were very late to the Ward Halloween party but we were impressed with how nice everyone was and how many kids were in the ward.

Now in 2007 we are in Hermitage, TN. We moved here on Oct 30. In Louisville, we went to our apartment community’s Halloween party and then went to the local High school to go to their Halloween party. We didn’t make it to the Zoo’s Halloween party. We were able to pack and unload quickly because many people from church came to help in Louisville and in Hermitage. After unloading the trunk we went to the Branch Halloween party and ate the best hot dogs and chili I have ever had. On Halloween, we went to Steak and Shake where kids ate free if they wore a costume. Then we went to the nearby “rich” neighborhood and got some good candy. Victoria was a cheerleader and Jon Jon was Darth Maul. Aron was a Chinese boy!

We always manange to participate in Halloween even though we move so much. Moving during Halloween is great because then you have an excuse to get to see the nearby neighborhoods and actually meet people who live in your community. You also have an excuse to check out your ward. I don’t like moving every year, but moving in October and November is the best because that is time when communities come together and it is no longer so hot.