When I was a kid nobody celebrated Halloween. It did not exist. In Denmark - the small country in northern Europe - it was all about Christmas. No monsters in the closets, no tombstones in the front yards, no ghosts trick-or-treating in the night, no jack-o'-lanterns flashing their toothy grins in the dark. And boy how I would have loved it. From an early start I loved monsters, witches and ghost stories. If it was scarry it was good. As I grew up I began hearing tales about a holiday in America that incorporated all of my favorite things. Oh how I hoped it would come to Denmark. But it didn't. Not really. A few years ago the stores began selling plastic spiders, cobwebs and ceramic jack-o'-lanterns in October. That was about it. So, taking matters into my own hands I decided to throw a Halloween party. I got my sister - who lives in California - to send me some Halloween decor and fake blood. Decorated our home, got dressed up as a 1960s housewife with a slit-throat while my husband was a shot-in-the-head gangster from the 1930s. Our friends - who had never been to a Halloween party before - came dressed as pirates, devils, witches and monsters. It was a blast. And so a tradition was born. This year we will be hosting our 5th year anniversary Halloween party.
