True Savvy

Well...what a virus can do. I haven't been posting, and, quite frankly, I haven't been cleaning, either. My voice is gone, and I get tired just walking across the room. To complicate things, Halloween is tomorrow, and I've been trying to figure out how to make it happen. Of course, my VERY practical husband offered his suggestion (via Skype, as he's been out of town for the last three days): just postpone it.

My first reaction?

Internally: "Oh, no way; not when I've gone through and written up our family's guide to Halloween!" (seriously; I did). "Not when I've put so much thought and effort into this, and I've bought the stuff for Big Boy's costume...",

Externally: "He's going to be so disappointed, and I told him we were going to carve pumpkins, and..."

Hubs' counter-question: "Does he even know it's going to be tomorrow?"
"Of course," I answer.

Five minutes later, during father-son conversation:

Hubs: "So, what are you going to do tomorrow?" (with faux-innocent gleam in eye)
Big Boy: "I dunno."
Hubs: "Really? You don't know what's going on tomorrow?"
Big Boy: "No."

I refuse to admit defeat over video-phone, so when he says (with large, generous shrug) "Just think it over," I type back (remember: laryngitis): ok.

I close the laptop lid and suggest to Big Boy that we re-think our Halloween celebration. Perhaps postpone it. His cries of protest aren't too large, and seem to be centered mostly on candy. Easy to fix, as we have a chocolate bar, some cookies, and Gummi Bears on hand. If we can find pumpkins at the village store tomorrow, we'll buy them. Otherwise, we can carve the one I had bought for baking. And as to costumes; we can save the supplies for his costume of choice and make it for "Fasnacht" (think Mardi Gras or Carnival; February-ish). We can make some cool masks tomorrow instead. Those items covered, he's happy enough.

As to my concerns: we certainly won't be getting trick-or-treaters over here, as no one really celebrates Halloween (and if there happen to be that random handful that show up every five years, I have a few leftover lollies in a candy jar). And the hard work? Well, it's not gone to waste. You see, the main purpose of all that hard work was to think about why we even do Halloween; what is the point of it for our family? Why celebrate this holiday in a country that until about 7 years ago didn't even know there was such a holiday? The answer is: to have fun. And, since it is NOT fun to stay up until midnight making a costume you were too sick to make during the week (and still are too sick to make), and it's NOT fun to hunt around the city for a pumpkin to carve, it's time to evaluate the situation and do with what you have.

Which brought it all home for me: true savvy-ness is not what you do, it's knowing why you do it.