October 31, 2010

Halloween

I have a confession...I actually don't like Halloween. I would love to say that it is because of some deep religious or moral convictions, but the (somewhat embarrassing) truth is that I don't like to be scared. When I was little I HATED trick-or-treating because the houses were decorated scary, and there was one where every year the guy hid (as part of their decorations) and jumped out at the kids who came. By 8 or 9 I was begging my parents to let me stay home. By 10 I prevailed and the terror of trick-or-treating was a thing of the past. Even now I avoid scary costumes and decorations (even in the store), and most hate the dozens of scary movie trailers on tv. Even the commercials give me nightmares.

My other confession...I'm a sucker for an opportunity to dress up. I love costumes. I even love theme parties, candy, games, carving pumpkins. I love the way a neighborhood comes together, welcoming all to their house, giving generously to those who arrive on their doorstep. I get giddy like a kid over all of the non-scary aspects of Halloween.
This is part of the reason I caved and bought some last minute carving pumpkins (they were also $1 each, and who can pass up that price)! Lucas and I held our own carving competition (which I didn't know was a competition until after mine was carved...), and the twins got to watch, play in the goop, and see their very first jack-o-lanterns (they weren't so sure about the glowing faces...).
See if you can tell who carved which pumpkin...
And then it was time for the grand finale of this particular holiday season - trick-or-treating! Our fire station was hosting a "Trunk-or-Treat" where people decorate their cars and hand candy out from the trunks. We were really excited about attending our first real community event (we were sick for the Easter Egg Hunt...). We had some time before we left and tried to get some pictures of them in costume with the pumpkins. But you know how group pictures go around here...
Turns out we should have left early. When we got to Trunk-or-Treat we found this line (the building you see on the left side in the center is where the event was hosted to give you an idea of the length of the line).
We ended up waiting roughly 1/2 hour to even get to the trunks. We had imagined milling around, meeting people in the community, talking with people at their trunks, but because of the long line we were quickly ushered around the circle of trunks while they dropped candy in our bags with barely enough time for us to say "Thank you." We might have been able to be more social in the fire station where they had donuts and cider, but there was another line... Instead, we decided to hit a few houses for trick-or-treating. Including our neighbors across the street (seen in this picture...along with a few kids from church we adopted for the evening)
The best part of the evening? Handing out candy. I think we had at least 5 times the amount of trick-or-treaters last night than we had in all of our 5 years in MA! And we apparently missed the rush! We had helpers to pass out the candy, and they did a fabulous job!


Our trick-or-treating was obviously a night early, so to all of you who are trick-or-treating on actual Halloween, have a safe, fun, and not too scary night!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are like me, Kim. I don't like scary at all. If I'm watching a movie and if 'scary-to come' music comes on I turn the channel until I think the scary part is done!! Sounds like it was a fun Halloween time. Grandpa and I are about to leave for our new tradition--lock up the house and go out to eat as all our neighborhood kids are grown. Happy November!! Grandma

Anonymous said...

Kim..well I just turned the lights out. I sure wished I was with all my grandkids instead of being here passing out candy to some really rude kids this year. I gave this one boy candy and he grabbed my bowl and said "I want something else." I wanted to take his candy back and tell him to get going. Lots of different kids this year. One little boy ran in my house and just started looking around at all my Halloween pumpkins. But the night ended with a tradition so all was not bad. Kari,Jeff, and the kids came. They always come to my house last and then Mallory and Nolan pass candy out while we talk. I had Lady and the Tramp playing in the family room so Liam ran in there and never came out until it was over. So I'm like you ...Love Fall but not a big fan of Halloween. Looks like Harper and Delaney had a nice evening. The pictures of the grandkids made me lonely and wanted to see them not the ones that came to my door. Maybe next year. Love to all Nana

Lauren and Jeff said...

Wow! The exact opposite of the trunk or treat we went to! We were in and out in under 15 minutes! But, there are probably a hundred trunk or treats in Indy and probably only a couple near you guys. Nice job on the pumpkins - both of you!