Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween. I think it's my favorite holiday of the year, apart from my birthday which should be a national holiday. Part of the reason that I love Halloween is that it's two days before my birthday meaning that I get to celebrate for more than just one day. Plus any day that I get to dress up in costume is a good day for me.

This year, I went to a Halloween party on Saturday as Demeter, Goddess of the Earth. Appropriately enough it was pouring down rain in the morning, but by the time that I had to get ready to get dressed for the party, the weather had turned beautiful. I'm totally taking credit for that. After all, you don't want to mess with Mother Nature.

Remember those commercials from the 1970's for margarine. If you're old enough to remember them, then you had a good idea of what my costume looked like. It was a peach off the shoulder dress with a green overlay, long on the sides but very short in the front.

When I arrived at the party with my frozen bottle of champagne (who knew that champagne froze?) and my caviar dish, one of the guys at the party commented on my costume, and then wanted to know if it could be shorter in the front! That's the sign of a successful costume. Over the years, I've gone as a female bucccaneer, Anne Boleyn, a Desperate Housewife, Druscilla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and last year, International Woman of Mystery, Femme Fatale.

I have to work tonight, so I'm missing the Halloween Parade in the village, which I went to once, just for the experience. Unfortunately, I tend to get claustrophobic in crowds, so I didn't enjoy it that much. As for trick or treating, I was never allowed to go as a child, not even in the building because my mother was too afraid of my getting razor blades or bad apples to let me go. So when I got older and we had Halloween dances at school, I more than made up for not getting to trick or treat.

Gosh, I have so many fond memories of Halloween parties. I mentioned the one where I snagged the Aussie cowboy, but I remember going to a party in college at a frat party and making out with some guy wearing a black slip. And we had an awesome party in London one year at a friend's house in Kilburn where we sat around telling ghost stories and smoking pot. Did I just say that?

I don't know that I've ever had anything weird like pyschic phenomenon or anything happen to me despite the fact that it is All Hallow's Eve. Mary Jo Putney has a great post over at Word Wenches on the origins of Halloween.

What are you favorite Halloween memories?