When I was a child, Halloween was on October 31st. There might be a party at school a day or two before, but if and only if Halloween was on a weekend. Other than that, Halloween was simply a fun-filled day full of candy, cookies or cupcakes, and costumes.Fast forward about thirty years. I have children of my own and suddenly Halloween has become not just a holiday but it's become a holiweek. Every single evening of the last week of Halloween, there were activities from trunk-or-treating to parties.
It was exhausting.
I'm all for dressing up and having fun, trick-or-treating and handing out candy, carving pumpkins and baking cupcakes, letting my kids stay up late and watching bad scary movies. That's what Halloween is all about - and I love every minute of it!But as a week-long holiday? It was just too much. Keeping their costumes clean was a pain. Keeping them out of their treats was a challenge. And even though the boys were excited, they were a bit overwhelmed.
Every year, Arthur's school has a cute program called Spooktacular. Kids and their siblings dress up in costumes and visit different classrooms. Teachers host a ten-minute activity in their classroom - reading a book, dancing to music, the traditional feel-body-parts-in-small-containers - and then give out candy. It's a lot of fun and the boys really enjoy it. (Balin talked about the wiener dog book for days after the event.) Toward the end of the evening, they even got to take two pieces of candy. Score!
Robinson's work also held their traditional Halloween party. There was food and lots of candy. Everything was pretty much the same as last year except for the trick-or-treating. Last year, the employees passed out candy from their offices. The boys were particularly excited about the king-sized candy bars they received and they hoped for more this year, but alas, the "no trick-or-treating" party planners won. They were disappointed.There was still more than enough candy to make up for it.
The boys also received their annual Halloween cards from Nana with the usual $2 and lots of foam stickers. Arthur promptly put his in the sand crawler fund and Balin stuck his in his piggy bank.
This was the first year we took the boys trick-or-treating. It was bitterly cold outside so Balin wanted to go inside after three houses, but Arthur lasted for several blocks. The strap on his pumpkin candy bag strained under the weight of all the candy.
So Halloween was a little crazy this year. It probably doesn't get any less crazy in the years to come.
Blessed be.
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