Many people have heard about my love of Halloween, and how my family and I enjoy going all out in decorating our house to celebrate this annual event of handing out all sorts of goodies to the neighbourhood kids. After years of seeing our neighbours taking photographs of our decorations to show to their family and friends, I decided I’d like to do the same by taking you on a visual tour of how we celebrate this wonderful night for childhood memories.

Regardless of its origins, for me Halloween is about creating magic, of celebrating the power of our imagination to dream up all sorts of amazing and bizarre creations. Through the decorations we place all over the front yard and on our house, we work to create this magical wonderland – a scene which through the lens of childhood stirs up that sense of wonderment and joy. Looking toward our house from across the street, there is that unmistakable look of a place that would seem to exist within our imagination, of something you only get to see on those rare occasions like Halloween night. Click here to continue reading »”Photo Essay – A Halloween Night’s Dream”

Last night, my children joined in that annual tradition where ordinary boys and girls transform themselves into witches, pirates, princesses, Spidermans and various ghouls in the pursuit of collecting confectionery from nearby neighbourhood houses. Of course, I’m talking about Halloween, which is without question my favourite secular holiday that our society celebrates for the simple fact that for one day of the year, kids everywhere get to revel in the simple pleasures that come with childhood.

Without question, the world our children live in today is far different from the one my generation grew up in with new dangers like cyber-bullying and even identity theft in addition to those threats that we had to deal with as children. There’s also a greater pressure on children these days to live according to some schedule or activity regimen – I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard fellow parents complain about how many sporting events, tournaments, dance practices and so forth they have to take their kids to. And every time, I find myself biting my tongue from pointing out the obvious of who chose to sign them up for so many activities instead of just a select few. After all, let’s face it – children by nature lack the ability for self-control as well as knowing their limits and as such, that kind of decision-making lies squarely on the shoulders of the parents. Put it to you this way – switch these activities for video games or some other toys at the department store. If your child asks that he/she wants all these toys, are you simply going to buy all of them or are you going to inform your child that we can’t get everything we want simply because we want it? I think you can appreciate now why I discretely roll my eyes when I’m subjected to hearing these complaints from other parents about how busy their children are as a reply to my mentioning the fact that my kids were joining a swimming class this session.

That’s why Halloween for me is so important to make a big deal of, not just for my kids, but for all kids because on that day, we don’t expect them to be minature versions of ourselves, checking the calendar to see what’s been booked that day and such. Click here to continue reading »”The Magic of Halloween”