Fright night

Last year was my first year here in Iceland during Halloween, where October 31st passes like any other day. No doorbells ringing straight from 6pm until 10pm, no neighborhood kids you didn't know existed stopping by in crazy outfits, no bowls full of candy and carved out pumpkins, caving in under the heat of the candles inside, no spooky decorations on everyone's doors and windows. This year again, I'll be here, and I'm really sad to be missing all the fun. The truth is I usually dress up for it myself, even went trick o' treating off and on into my early 20s, and have come to realize this is my favorite holiday. At least last year I vicariously participated by buying Palmer his outfit (he was Bob the Builder, Bubbi Byggir in Icelandic); this year I haven't even done that. But I did tell my husband that the scariest outfit we could get for Palmer would be to put him in a suit and tell everyone he is a banker.

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