9 years ago when Rebecca was in town for a fall weekend, Zion's daycare gave us free tickets to a Halloween party. We noticed that the price of the tickets was $100 each, so we decided it was worth checking out. We dressed Zion up in his Winnie the Pooh costume and made our way to the Windy City Field House. Little did we know that the tickets we had acquired were the entrance to the Dream Halloween Gala, a posh and elaborate event put on by the Children Affected by Aids Foundation. We stared in wonder as we walked into a beautiful grotto full of amazingly designed jack-o-lanterns, fantastic decorations, and costumed characters that looked like they had just walked off of a movie set. Jamie Lee Curtis was there; there were dancers and bands and trick or treating stations that were handing out treats that were more like Christmas presents than Halloween treats--Barbie dolls and race cars and lego sets--we ended up with a carload of abundance. There were tables piled with food and drinks donated by some of Chicago's favorite restaurants, and a raffle giving away a Lexus SUV to a lucky winner (we dared to hope). The whole evening was so cool and so unexpected. I remember walking out of the party with a dazed happiness that felt a little like a trip to Disney World.
I spent the next 9 years trying to cop some more of those free tickets, and this year...score! The gala did not disappoint. We had to make 4 trips to our car to carry out our bounty. Zion and Zen were so excited to go home and play with their newly acquired toys that we didn't even wait to enjoy the Trinity Irish Dancers or the hip hop group that performed. When we came home, it was like Christmas morning. Of course a large portion of this went into the basement to be donated to holiday charity and shared with cousins in the future. It was fun to share the experience with Zen, who has been dragging around a giant, remote-controlled motorcycle with him all this week, courtesy of the party.
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