Background

Friday, November 2, 2012

H...A...double-L-O...

Old-school Shel and Jenn. I believe this was at the Opryland at the very end of 2003/beginning of 2004, on a Bellevue New Year's college trip. We totally made the most of going to two different churches: she'd go with me on Ellendale trips, and I'd go with her on Bellevue trips! ha! This was also the trip when I first heard her talk about her now-husband Brian! :)
One of the most wonderful things about having a best buddy you've known from kindergarten on up to where you are today is the crazy traditions you come up with over the years, many of which clearly date from elementary school but are still faithfully observed to the present. Jennifer is that friend to me, and every year on Halloween we have this little thing we do where we call each other up to sing a Halloween song that we learned in elementary school (which is where the title of today's post comes from). The rule is that no matter where we are or what we're doing, if one of us gets the phone call from the other on Halloween, the other one has to answer, and then we both sing the song together. No matter what. There have been years when one of us was in the grocery store when she got the phone call from the other. There have been years when one of us was strolling along on campus going to class when the festive phone call came. Regardless, we are required to do our best to sing the song and act like it's a normal, socially acceptable thing to do, while the other one attempts to sing while laughing hysterically. This is obviously something that was started years ago, and yet it has been a staple part of our Halloween experience ever since. 

This year, both of us were at our respective homes, playing with our respective children, when I made the phone call to North Carolina. This year her son Pierce joined in the action, while Tamsie had a total meltdown, complete with the "how-could-you" face. It was really sad, because I was excited about adding a keyboard to our rendition this year since I happened to be standing next to one... but alas. My children don't appreciate my greatness. ;) Who knows, maybe I'm already embarrassing them by even sharing this story!

Thankfully, they seemed to enjoy Halloween night very much! My mom came over when she got off work - dressed as a prisoner, which I think she particularly enjoys doing and freaking her customers out since she works in court and all. Then Dad came over to open his birthday gifts and see the girls, but then he had to get back home. Poor Dad has been sick longer than any of the rest of us! Then my sis-in-law Jennifer came to join us at our church's big fall festival. (Speaking of fall festivals and such, I loved Russell Moore's blog on Halloween and evangelicals!) As we pulled into the parking lot, the girls seriously started squealing and kicking their legs - they were so excited!

Sadly, I didn't get too many pictures on Halloween night. My phone was MIA for most of the night, and the place was absolutely chaotic and packed - so packed, in fact, that I feel like we only saw about 20% of what there was to see! Navigating a double stroller around in crowds is not for the faint of heart, y'all! I just can't wait til next year, when I know the girls will be able to get into everything more than they could this year. This year, though, they fully enjoyed looking around at everyone in all of their costumes, and they also attracted quite a bit of attention themselves (as usual). Here are the pics I did manage to get:

Riding the train with their Daddy and Aunt Jennifer

Jennifer, me and the pumpkin heads with the cast of Duck Dynasty, AKA Sara, McKenzie and Matt! I'm seriously impressed that we were able to find them in that crowd, especially as decked-out as they were! :)

Happy Halloween from Evangelyn and Tamsie!
Hope y'all had a wonderful Halloween, and happy November! The start of the holiday season is here. Last night, I even heard the first Christmas song of the season while I was at Babies 'R' Us... but unfortunately it was "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" by Annie Lennox. Seriously?! Annie Lennox? Is that any way to ring in the holiday season? OK, girls are waking up from their morning nap, so off I go!

No comments:

Post a Comment