Halloween This Year

Halloween has always been one of my favourite times of the year. As a child it provided an escape from the everyday life. It provided a sense of adventure. I would put so much time and energy into my costume, like one year it was for a home made alien costume and another year it was for a spice girls costume.  My sisters and I would go block after block and our candy bags would get heavier and heavier.

The best part was when we would get home and would dump our candies on the ground, initiating the trading! Halloween wasn't just about us kids, it was one of my grandmother's favourite times of the year.  She would start collecting the candy a good month before. Halloween day would arrive, there still would be light out and she would be just as giddy as us kids.  She would put on her jacket and set a chair by the door. She would sit, along with her big bin of candy,  and wouldn't move the entire evening until the last trick or treaters.  No one else was allowed to give out the candy. It was strictly her thing.

This halloween, as I stood at my front door,  I took a moment as a nostalgic feeling came over me after having handed out candy to these cute little girls dressed up as minions. There were tons of children walking up and down the block, there were fireworks in the sky and a certain smell in the air that is only there on halloween night.  In that moment I got a nice and warm fuzzy feeling inside.

My grandfather and grandmother's passing has been really difficult, especially having lived with them my entire life. After their loss I am left with a sort of sadness, a longing for their presence but somehow, in that moment, I felt a really nice feeling inside and not the sadness I feel when i'm missing them.  Maybe me taking over the handing out of the candy duty is my way of connecting with my grandmother or maybe it was just a nice warm memory of my grandmother.

We spent halloween handing out candy, playing games (such as mafia with a group of friends over), snacking on these lovely cupcakes and cookies baked by my youngest sister and cousin*, consuming far too much candy (of course!) and ended the night with a scary movie and pizza.  All in all it was such a lovely night and after a long time I felt a sense of true enjoyment!

cupcakes recipe - brain, spider web & mummy decorations are own
peanut butter cookies w/ spiders recipe - in addition to this recipe - here are our steps - Shape dough into 1 1/4” balls, then roll in granulated sugar. Slightly flatten cookies. After baking place a hershey's kiss or mini reese’s cup in the middle of the cookie + decorations (edible eyeballs)

*follow the hashtag #bakedbynoorandjess instagram for more baking by my sister and cousin