Holiday? What Holiday?

I KNEW that Halloween was coming up. On Saturday, I spoke with my Mom about what time her town was hosting trick-or-treat. I thought of it right before going to bed that night. But did I remember it on Sunday??? NOPE!

After church I decided to take my daughter out for “girl time.” We shopped for new clothes for the kids to wear to their Aunt Sarah’s wedding, and then my princess asked if she could get new shoes to match her dress. “Sure” I said, enjoying my special time with her, and we climbed back into the car to go to the mall, where I know I can find her favorite soft ballet slippers.

Out in the parking lot I noticed lots of cars and thought to myself “Wow, the Christmas season really starts early. What a pain.” But we slowly made our way up and down the aisles until we found a parking spot (VERY far from the entrance).

Then, on our LONG walk through the parking lot she noticed a group of kids in their costumes and pointed them out. “Look Mommy! They are all dressed up!” I smiled at the kids and reminded my daughter that she sometimes likes to go shopping dressed like a flower girl. (Notice – none of this was making ANY connections for me)

After we walked through the doors to the Mall, my daughter pulled on my sweater and sadly whispered “Mommy, ALL of the kids are dressed up.” I looked around, and TA-DA she was right – tiny princesses and pirates were everywhere. Not only were they all there, riding on the carousel and running though the halls, but they were all lining up in front of the stores and holding out bags with expectant looks on their faces.

“OH . . . UM . . . Sweetheart, would you like to go to get a new costume at the Disney store?”

Phew! I went from “bad-forgetful-mommy” to “amazing-generous-mommy” in 10 seconds flat.

I enjoyed spending the rest of the afternoon with “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast. We trick-or-treated at the stores in the Mall as we shopped for her shoes, and then stopped by her Nana’s house (where we should have been from the beginning). She had fun showing off her new costume and got that great “thrilled kid” look in her eyes when her Grandpa dumped at least 3 pounds of lollipops into her bag.

Thank goodness those costumes were on sale!