Treat

Wren will be a princess. Sammy will be a pumpkin. We will walk around our neighborhood screaming trick or treat and come home with a huge load of candy, candy no one in this house can eat. What to do?

First of all, I know there are some gluten-free candies. However, Wren is allergic to a lot and finding them without eggs, corn, dairy, and gluten is a bit of a challenge. Plus, we don’t allow high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, or tons of refined sugar to enter our house or bodies just by personal choice, so candy is kind of a junky area for us. We don’t want the kids to miss the fun of Halloween, so we have come up with a plan: the candy trade. The kids will get to come in from trick or treating and trade their candy for something else. Wren is going to get the art set she’s been eyeing for weeks. Sammy will probably just get some breast milk because he loves it and doesn’t so much care what else we give him right now. He’s a boob man. It’s Halloween without the sugar hangover. I’m pretty excited and will let you know how it goes.

This plan comes from one of our living with Celiac principles: It’s all about attitude. Halloween can be a bummer holiday if you can’t eat any of the junk you work so hard to attain. However, completely shutting out the trick or treat tradition, if that is how your family usually celebrates, can lead to resentful children who feel isolated. By finding a way to participate but make it Celiac friendly, we’re hoping to create our own, new traditions that work for us. We’re new at this, it may not work, and if not we’ll try something else next year. I’m hopeful. My daughter came to me yesterday and proclaimed: “I would like lunch, Mommy. I would like it to be roast with green beans and avocado. Thanks.” She then pranced off in her princess tiara wearing nothing else but her big girl panties. She’s a pretty unique, awesome kid. I believe she’ll adapt just fine. And my son frequently wakes up from his nap, looks at me, and in a British accents says, “Bugger!” They are both pretty unique. I think they’ll enjoy living life to the beat of our own drum.