Halloween

Before we celebrate the next Holiday, it's about time to share the previous . . .

 

For some reason I felt a bit like the Halloween Grinch this year. Just never could get in the "spirit" of the holiday. Perhaps it is because Halloween is traditionally a fall holiday; ushered in by a crispness in the air, and piles of multi-colored leaves.  Not so much in Kingman, Arizona this year.

 

We were enjoying beautiful 80 degree weather right up to Halloween and for at least a week after. The leaves were still attached firmly to the tree branches, making things feel more like summer than fall.

Nonetheless I went through the motions of buying pumpkins to carve. I would have preferred to just pick some out myself while doing my grocery shopping but deep inside I knew that I had a 6 year old who was anxiously waiting for the day to choose her special pumpkin.  Note to self: don't wait until 4 days before Halloween to buy a pumpkin, all the "good" ones are gone.

Again this year they carved pumpkins in teams: Rachel & John and Elizabeth & Sarah. Paul was in the Halloween spirit and asked us to get a pumpkin for his team: he & Jacob.  The teams were assigned so that they each had a gut lover, someone who enjoys running their hands through the slimy guts & pulling them out of the pumpkin.

Jacob didn't care for the guts, in fact he screamed if we tried to put his hand in the pumpkin.  However he was sure fascinated with the finished product: glowing Jack-O-Lanterns.

 

My lack of Halloween spirit carried over into the costumes. I told the kids early in the month I would not be purchasing any new costumes this year. They would have to wear one we already had or create one of their own. John was happy to be Thomas the Tank Engine for the second or third time & Sarah found a fairy costume in our costume box. Elizabeth went as a tourist (yes she wore shorts & short sleeves and was never cold). Jacob would just wear the costume John had worn at that age until days before Halloween when Rachel finally settle on something, Wyldstyle from the LEGO movie. We decided that he should go as Emmet, the main character from the LEGO movie.  With a quick look in their closets & some duct tape my LEGO kids were good to go.



The Halloween spirit began to return as I handed out candy at the church trunk-or-treat seeing all the kiddos dressed up and excited to get candy.  My favorite kiddo to watch was my own sweet Jacob. He loved seeing the candy being dropped in his bucket and then coming home where he got to rummage through and eat it!

The trunk-or-treat was early this year so the kids enjoyed a tromp around the neighborhood to collect more sweets. Elizabeth headed around with four of her friends, and Rachel. I accompanied the younger ones (with a friend of mine and her kiddos) while Paul stayed home with Jacob to pass out candy.  The folks in our neighborhood are very generous with the candy, as we don't get a whole lot of trick-or-treaters up this way, and poor Sarah's little plastic pumpkin was overflowing, no exaggeration.  With just a couple of houses left they took pity on her heavy laden pumpkin and gave her a grocery bag to collect candy in.

When we returned home I found a candy carpet covering my living room floor. The "big girls" were in the midst of a mass candy trade. Who knew there were others out there who organized their candy as neatly as Elizabeth in preparation for trading? The Halloween spirit finally was felt in full force when one of Elizabeth's friends said to me, "Thanks for the best Halloween ever!!!"  "Uh, You're welcome," came my response not sure that I did anything out of the ordinary. And my Grinchy Halloween heart melted away.