The Little Things

You know, I never cared much about Halloween growing up. I was excited to get candy, but that was about it. My mom hated Halloween so we never had any decorations or anything. I suppose that attributed to my lack of enthusiasm.

But my step-mom LOVES all holidays, and she has tons of decorations for them all. Going to their house every Halloween we were able, made me excited! I loved looking at all of the decorations she's accumulated over the years.

It really made me think. It's all about the state of mind. Halloween, like any other time of the year is made special by the people you spend it with and the memories you make. Part of those memories are decorations. Pulling them out, getting excited about putting them up, finding a space to put them (even the smell of the box they're kept in.) My step-mom finds joy in the little things, and it rubbed off on me.

Now I have nowhere near as many decorations as she does, but my collection is growing, partly because of her and my dad. They buy us one decoration a year for our collection. I'm always excited to see what it will be.

The other reason I have come to love Halloween is because of my children. I love asking them what they want to be and hearing their sweet little answers (since they are so young) it's always something so sweet and innocent. Something they are familiar with. Emma's picks are almost always princesses. Addie follows whatever Emma wants. This year I told them they were going to be bugs and let them pick what bug they wanted to be. Again it's the little things about it. Choosing the costumes, the excitement in finding those costumes, seeing the smiles on their faces when they get to try them on for the first time, the tears when they hear that they have to take them off to keep them nice for the actual Trick or Treating.

Too many times are we unaware of the memories being made as we are trying our best to make things happen NOW. Stop and take the time to appreciate the little things.