Halloween seemed to be on a bright Spring day this year with the temperature in the high 70s and a bright sun that didn't look like it'd set for the next few months. Although, come to think of it, it was perfect weather just because it wasn't weather you'd expect for an invasion of scary day-time zombies and the living undead.
The kids are getting older, and that means the lure of trick-or-treating with parents in tow isn't as attractive as it once was. Colleen, now on the cusp of being a teenager, opted to go as Mother Nature with a gaggle of friends, as they, a voracious mob demanding candy, moved from house to house like a cloud of locusts. Megan, a vampire, went to a party and told us she'd catch up with us later that night for her own trick-or-treating.
So that left Alex, dressed as David Beckham (the soccer player is a time-tested costume because you get to wear cleats and fast soccer shoes, the better to hit as many houses as possible for candy), and my nephew who was dressed as a vaguely dangerous, camouflaged, weapon-laden army guy.
We started out with out traditional frito pie dinner and then attacked our closest neighbors, expanding our candy hunt rapidly through the entire neighborhood. One person handing out candy asked Alex who Beckham was, since the name was on Alex's soccer jersey. Alex thought this guy's ignorance was hilarious, and I felt a little bad because the other night at the big Halloween orchestral concert, I saw a kid wearing a jersey that said "Favre," and I thought someone had misspelled 'favor' on the guy's shirt. Suzanne cleared it up, explaining 'Favre' was Big Deal football player. Apparently this is a real human being and not a typo.
We had one particularly creepy experience while trick-or-treating. Alex walked up to a shadowy man sitting on his porch steps. The house was lighted up, and it was in the middle of all sorts of other festive Halloween houses. But when Alex got within a few feet of the man, we all realized he had no candy, and was just sitting there being bizarre. Instead of treats, he growled, "They pay Beckham too much."
So Alex slowly backed away, and we grabbed him and ushered him next door where they had tiki torches glowing and fun punch flowing.
We met up with Megan, who accompanied us on the last part of the neighborhood rounds, and then finally made home, exhausted and weighed down by pounds of sugar. And Colleen? Well, we've lost her to the siren sound of middle school parties and sleep overs. I saw not a hair of her Mother Nature costume the entire night and I knew it would be later, the next day certainly, when I would be able to ask her about her own Halloween as she would sit quietly at the kitchen table recording an inventory of her candy (an accounting process begun by Alex to ensure no one else would sneak a piece from the stash).
Hey Mark,
Sounds like our Halloween night! I didn't even get a picture of Sarah in her costume! We miss you guys!
Posted by: Becky Gentrup | November 03, 2008 at 09:50 AM