Oh how I love Halloween. I love the smell of fall. I love hayrides, haunted houses, scary movies, campfires. I especially love the fact that I was smart enough to move out of the great white North to a more reasonable climate. I remember my junior year of college at Michigan State. I was living in Cedar Village (why my parents let me live there I will never know...it was CRAZY, but I did have great roommates that were trustworthy) and I was sitting in the living room...it was October 14th...and there was a BLIZZARD. I don't mean snow flurries. I mean...can't see across the street, piling up on the gound BLIZZARD. It was absurd. I moved just a few years later.
When I first moved to Tennessee many people made fun of my accent and my choice of words. Apparently "you guys" is not appropriate because it excludes the person saying it...instead I had to learn "y'all" which I still haven't quite mastered. When I was getting my hair cut one time the stylist (who also cut my sister's hair) said, "you don't favor your sister at all do you?" I had NO idea what she was talking about. I said "No, I really love my sister." She laughed at me. I was definitely not from around here.
The biggest difference was the coats. In Michigan I had a coat for just about every month of the year. The worst one was a long down coat for the middle of Michigan winters. This coat was VERY warm. So warm that I would start sweating before I made it outside if I put it on too early. My first and second winters in Tennessee I didn't touch it. Before my third winter in Tennessee I gave it away to one of the men who was helping me move. I don't miss that coat. I was commenting on this pleasant change of climate at work one day and said "down here, I only need my October coat." One of the nurses looked at me like I was crazy and asked me "what the heck is an 'October coat'". I tried to explain that it was a little warmer than a September coat, but not as warm as a November coat. I'm not sure that helped.
When Adam visited my parents' house in Midland for the first time he was walking through the garage and saw a huge contraption he'd never seen before. He looked at my dad and asked what it was. My dad said "it's a snowblower". Adam said "it has chains on the wheels?". My dad said "yep". Adam said "I would NOT live somewhere that the SNOWBLOWER has chains on the wheels." He made a good point. My parents moved to Tennessee shortly after that.
Okay, you have endured all that for some adorable pictures of Sophie and Josie. The past 2 years we have tried to do paired costumes for the girls. This year they went as Dr. Huskins and her X-Ray. Sophie's scrubs are actually embroidered. So cute! And it was so warm we didn't even have to try to shove a winter coat underneath their costumes. I can remember many Halloweens where my costume was pointless because it was so cold we had to cover it up to bundle up!
