What the Holidays Mean for Us

Every year the excitement fills the house as the holidays approach. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. Normally for families it means candy, treats , food, food, food, and loads of family gatherings. For us reality is a bit different.

By my age I always expected to be having elaborate gatherings for my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents. Reality is that we live hundreds of miles and many states away from our closest relatives. So, I try extra hard to make the holidays special for our kids and something they will cherish forever.

Halloween is particularly difficult. The kids love to dress up and trick or treat. We have always made them special bags with things they can have and they trade their bags in and we give them the goody bag they can actually eat out of. Then the candy they collected would be handed back out to trick or treaters. Well, our dietary restrictions have increased significantly this year. I have been struggling trying to think of how to handle Halloween. I might try a spooky night of creating monster creations out of stuff they can have. Simply setting the things out and letting them be mad scientist. I often think it isn't the same as doing all that trick or treating and immediately getting to bite into the rewards. On the flip side, I remember my Halloweens were always spent just getting tons of candy and then getting a very sick stomach after. My kids get family time and a lot of interactive fun.

This year will be a bit of extra fun. My husbands parents are coming to visit the weekend before Halloween. Therefore, I have turned it into a Halloween party. My in-laws, husband and I are all going to dress up with the kids and have a small but very fun Halloween party. Complete with hand made spooky decorations (no cost stuff, just from things you keep around the house) and creepy food. Music and games, "the whole nine yards" as my son would say! I am hoping all the excitement will make up for there missing out on the typical Halloween candy explosion!

I am making the decorations early and having them around for the kids to see. Nothing really creepy just cute and fun. But even cute and fun can be a challenge for my youngest boy. I am hoping that him seeing everything around will help him adjust to change when the decorations all go up. Transitions are so hard for him and things out of place can set him off easily. I am trying to think ahead and be proactive so everyone can enjoy the party. These times are very special and I want all the kids to enjoy it equally!

Now I have just a couple of weeks to finish planning for a family visit, head to our 7 doctor and therapy appointments a week and continue our current homeschool schedule. My husband has been doing loads of extra work trying to get things ready for company too! Busy, busy, busy. So, as we scurry along I wish everyone out there a night of fun, family, friends and a safe allergy free Halloween experience!

Halloween fun!

I love the holidays and here are a few fun ideas for the family at dinner time on Halloween.

For starters try Witch's Breadstick Fingers using Namaste pizza crust. Take hot tap water called for on the bag for two pizzas and add 4 teaspoons of yeast, a touch of white sugar, oil called for and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir well then add mix in bag. Stir add extra hot tap water if needed, make sure it is moist, yeast needs moisture. Cover and let set in warm place for 5-10 minutes. Then Grease your hands with canola or olive oil and roll into breadstick shapes. Cut edges of whole black olives and place them on one end of the breadstick as the fingernail. In the center of the breadstick take a knife and make some squiggles for the knuckle. Follow the rest of the directions on the bag to cook. Once they are done take a serving bowl and put in your pizza sauce, stick the breadsticks in olive end up and Voila, Witch's fingers!

Try this one... Meatball Eyeballs. It is a rice pasta with meatballs. This recipe is for the meatballs then make your noodles and sauce for spaghetti as usual. To serve lay spaghetti on platter, sauce over it and lay the creepy meat balls all around it.

1 lb of ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp allspice
2 tsp cumin
pinch of cayenne pepper
olive oil

Place all ingredients in a food processor except the olive oil until very smooth. Oil or wet your hands and form small eyeball sized balls. Take olives, slice them in half and press then into one side of the meatball . Heat oil in frying pan and brown meatballs for 5-10 minutes.

Want a decorating idea? Make some great Mummy candy jars, straw or utensil holders. Use glass spaghetti jars. Soak outside of jar to remove label. Take old white nylons and use the brief part to wrap around the glass jar; from there pull the legs in opposite directions winding around the jar and tie a knot. Tuck the knot under and glue a couple of googly eyes on. Add white or silver glitter and creepy plastic spiders (we used spider rings and removed the ring part). Say Happy Halloween to your mummy decorations!