Halloween

Our kids look forward to Halloween the way I used to look forward to Christmas. They’ll sit around in May plotting different things they can be for next Halloween. Then they’ll ask when is Halloween? the way some kids ask are we there yet?

It’s fun for Corrinne and I to listen to all their costume ideas. In the course of a year we hear dozens of plans tossed around. I encouraged the more outlandish ones, though those tend to be abandoned the fastest. I’ve always wanted to see if Corrinne could figure out a way to make some of their more creative ideas into costumes, like “a haunted pine tree” or a siren.

This year costumes that are also pajamas were all the rage. I support this rage because costumes should be worn for at least the next six months, ideally much longer. Our kids are still playing with the fairy wings they wore for Halloween when we were in Patrick’s Point three years ago.

Elliott somehow found out about these pajama costumes and discovered one that was a flying squirrel. But then his sister chose to be a rock star (specifically, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, because Lilah’s imagination is always very detailed and precise), so he decided to be a rock star flying squirrel. Then the same thing happened to our erstwhile leopard, who became a rock star leopard.

The funny thing about this is our kids really have no idea what a rock star is, not that such things matter. They just want to get dressed up, eat candy, and dance around all night. Are there even rock stars anymore? I have a hard time picturing Keith Richards or Mick Jagger getting away with their antics in today’s world.

We skipped the trick-or-treating this year, as I imagine most people did. For us there wasn’t really anywhere to go anyway. Our nearest neighbors are cows, which are notorious for only having tootsie rolls, good and plenty, and other candy no one wants.

We played it safe and celebrated by having a Halloween candy scavenger hunt and decorating some sugar cookies. The scavenger hunt was all Corrinne’s doing, I lack that sort of festive creativity.

Black frosting turns out to be tough, we settled for gray. Otherwise though the kids made out like bandits with cookies and plenty of candy squirreled away for the rest of the week.

I always try to get them to eat all their candy on Halloween. I am a big believer in the binge — just get it over with. Somehow they never fall for this. They have rather remarkable restraint in that way. Elliott always tells me he can’t eat anymore or he’ll get a stomach ache. No way I was smart enough to let that stop me when I was his age.

One change from bus life, we have an oven so we got to roast our pumpkins seeds this year. It got me thinking, hey now, I could fix the oven in the bus while we’re sitting around here.

I’m not entirely sure I want to fix it though. Somehow it feels like abandoning our waffling ways. Then again, there are things you can’t waffle. Like pumpkin seeds. But is that worth the trouble? I don’t know. I’m still mulling it over. Maybe by next Halloween we’ll have it sorted out. You don’t want to rush into these things after all.