Well, Halloween is over. The day after a holiday is always a little bit of a let down for me. The house is still decorated, there is candy every where but the excitement is gone. It's a little sad. Only 53 days until Christmas. God save me.
This Halloween was a little bit different because we took the neighbors trick or treating with us. They are muslim and don't celebrate Halloween but they were over our house when we were decorating and the kids talk about all the Halloween stuff that we do. They pretty much are at my house every day so they see what our customs and traditions are. They bugged their mom to go trick or treating with us, which I had nothing to do with. They said that their mom said they could go. I was kind of weird about it, because I want to be respectful of their beliefs but I talked to their mother and she was cool with it. She may have wanted the evening to herself. I don't blame her.
So I picked the kids up from school and I put some finishing touches on their costumes. The neighbors showed up and they were BOUNCING of the walls. They were so excited. They are 7 and 11 and have never participated in Halloween or trick or treating - they were stoked. We carved a jack o'lantern. I purchased the pumpkin last weekend and a side of it was soft and when I opened it, I thought it contracted bacterial vaginosis because it smelled awful and was slimy. I carved it anyway and scraped the smelly gunk from the sides. It was gross. I put a scented candle in it so it would neutralize. I worked with what I had.
The neighbors didn't have costumes and I thought I had some but I forgot that half of them got moldy in the garage incident a few months ago and the others I got rid of when I went on a de-cluttering binge. My 9 year old had the idea of cutting out cardboard and making cat ears so they made a black cat outfit. I told the 7 year old to go to her house and get a black dress on and some scarves. We wrapped a red scarf around her head and made a shaw with another and I put some hoop earrings on her and she was a fortune teller. The 4 year old brother asked if he could go along so we put him in a suit jacket and I drew him a mustache and beard.
My dad showed up then. He was going to give out candy. I purchased him a SCREAM mask and he sat on the porch with his mask and played a menacing tune on his violin. We took pictures and on we went. The neighbor's kids were were so funny. They were like, "Oh my goodness! Look at all this candy!" and I was like, "We've only been to 2 houses." No one knew who my kids were except for teenage boys. "Assain's Creed? That is sick." "Oh my God, it's Link." Strangely, there was another little boy in an Assain's Creed outfit and his costume was almost identical to my daughters. I thought that was fun. The neighborhood did not disappoint. There were chainsaws and butcher shops and haunted houses and elaborate displays. It was so awesome.
We hit the pavement for 2 hours. By the end of the night all the kids were complaining that their feet hurt and that they were hot. It was hot as hell. Last year it was freezing, this year it was 80 degrees. The weather here is crazy. We finally finished and headed home. The kids were so funny, "Can we come trick or treating with you next year?" "Sure." "Can we decorate your Christmas tree?" "Yeah.... your going to have to ask your parents about that one."
When we got home my dad was sitting on the porch, looking a little dejected. "What's wrong?" "I only had 10 people." We pulled chairs outside and sat around and waited. The kids came in and out with candy. We got a few more trick or treaters. My dad would get all excited and pull his mask on. He was giving out candy to parents. It was great.
I went inside and the kids were separating and counting their candy. Like little candy bankers. "Can I have some skittles?" My daughter looked at me and looked at the candy and picked up a yellow wrapped piece, "No, but you can have this Oh Henry." That's a stupid name for candy but I still ate it.
That night we laid in bed and my 9 year old said, "Only 365 days until Halloween again." Let the countdown begin.
No comments:
Post a Comment