Ghosts of Halloweens Past

I was sorting out some old photos as I load them into my my new iMac and I found some memories from Halloween parties past.

My house is the official faculty club for the department, and I’ve been hosting a Halloween party every year for the past 5 or six years. The rules are pretty simple. Grown ups (or at least the legally grown up) have to wear a religiously themed costume. They can get really inventive at times. Kids can wear any kind of costume they like.

Not a lot of photos have survived, but here are a few.

This is from 2004. If you look closely, you can see Wendel and Deirdre the frog couple hiding in Noah’s hair. I had to quit shaving for a week to get my beard like that.

An uncarved pumpkin has just about had enough…

Picture says 2005, but on reflection I think it is not so old. Tommy Gun Annie (far left) from CKXU Radio is not a zombie, but someone 3/4 resurrected by miracle worker and “Extreme Prophetic” person Patricia King. We had just watched her “you can raise the dead, but practice first on dead houseplants and roadkill” sermon on the Miracle Channel a few weeks earlier. Note the roadkill racoon. The twins remain very healthy and lively. And I still can’t tell them apart.

Three Weirdos.

More weirdos. Green Tara on the left. Poncho Pilot on the right (I told you they get inventive).

I can’t remember who Hillary in the middle is supposed to be, but this was the year that Religious Studies was promoted to being a full Department at the U. of Lethbridge. Hillary had told us, in excruciating detail, how a boring neighbour fancied himself an “artist” and craftsman and tried selling him a walking stick made of a sunflower stem. Since Hillary was named Dept Chair, I made our new Chief of Staff the Chief of Staffs from one of my home-grown sunflower stalks. Darn plant was 9′high. You can’t see it well, but a bright gold (and perfectly authentic) Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch is dangling from the contraption. The Staff is firmly mounted in a giant white winter boot. Hillary still keeps the thing in his office.

Tommy Gun Annie again, this time with a Monty Python’s Holy Grail Ale. I wrote to the Brewer to tell them that it was named “The Official Beer of the Department of Religious Studies”. I was expecting a truckload of beer for free. They must have forgotten to send it. Bastards.

Homer Simpson explains to one of the giraffes Noah left behind why Ganesh is not in favour of Apu’s marriage.

A Happy Family (2008)

So, what about this year? You will just have to wait a week or so!