Before and after pumpkin shots--Halloween in Oslo

Halloween was a distant memory for me for many years after I moved to Oslo. My first attempt to revive and celebrate the holiday was in 1997 when my stepdaughter Caroline decided she wanted to host a Halloween party for her friends, with bobbing for apples and costumes and all of the 'traditional' aspects. I made a cake in the shape of a pumpkin and frosted it with orange frosting and decorated it with black licorice. And of course I traipsed all over Oslo trying to find a pumpkin, and finally found one. But it was worth it because she and her friends enjoyed their party.

That was then. This is now. Now there is no problem finding a pumpkin; they come in all shapes and sizes. And Halloween is now celebrated here. And that makes the New Yorker in Oslo very happy. I have blinking skulls hanging in my kitchen window, and am crossing my fingers that we get some trick or treaters. While I know some Norwegians are not exactly thrilled with another 'American' cultural invasion, the majority of them seem to enjoy it, and if they have kids, they are busy shuttling them here and there to attend this or that party. Not so different than American parents. Me, I'm just a big kid when it comes to this kind of thing--I don't think I'll ever change. In that way, I'm like my mother. She looked forward to seeing the kids in their costumes every year, and to doling out candy to the trick or treaters. There's something about the holiday that is sufficiently pagan for me--despite the commercial aspects of it. I simply cannot get it out of my blood. So bring on the vampires, zombies, ghosts and witches! I'm looking forward to seeing them.