Halloween is now my second favorite holiday, after Thanksgiving. Two holidays I'd barely heard of, let alone celebrated, when I was younger. Thanksgiving got me first with its perfect meal. No need for anything else but to sit around the table with people and eat deliciousness. Halloween took longer to work its magic on me. I still don't understand why people decorate their houses with made-up creatures that serve no spiritual meaning for most people. But, and especially since I've lived in a nice house on a nice street with sidewalks, I've grown to love that the community comes out. Families waving at me from the end of our path as their children struggle up the steps in their unwieldy costumes and bleat out "trick or treat." Gangs of middle-schoolers wearing pajamas and fangs yelling "Happy Halloween." Everyone saying thank you.
Our trick-or-treat numbers have been steadily growing over the years, both local kids, and mini-van loads of children unloading on our well-supplied and easy-to-walk neighborhood. (I have no resentment for the latter. Not everyone has what we have). Last night was windy and rainy and blowy and we suspected that numbers would be down and as we took stock before the doorbell started ringing, we kind of laughed at how much I'd bought.
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| This is a lot of candy. |
But we soon realized we might be in danger and strictly enforced our one-piece-per-child rule. At one stage we remembered the inedible-to-us stash of Starbursts in the back cupboard and sighed with relief that we had reinforcements. We even gave away a box of Tic Tacs and a rather crumpled individually wrapped Oreo cookie that had been lingering in the same cupboard.
The last trick-or-treaters were four rain-damp fifteen-year-olds and one repeat customer whose parents apologized because they'd lost track of where they'd been. At 8.45 I turned off the porch light, locked the front door, closed the curtains, shut down shop.
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| The leftovers. |
We estimate probably just under three hundred children came to the house. Now all that's left of the season are soggy decorations and decaying jack-o-lanterns. And I'm turning over the November 1 leaf - I'm mostly recovered from my cold and ready to get in shape for the festival of food that binds together Michael's birthday and Thanksgiving at the end of the month. Oh, and thank goodness, daylight savings finally ends tonight.
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| This squirrel was going to town on these neighborhood pumpkins yesterday. A feast for local critters. I hope those paints are non-toxic. |
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