Halloween

It came, it went, we lost another football game.

I remember when, back in high school and college, the extravagance of celebration went entirely willy nilly when Halloween actually fell on a weekend. For that matter, I remember, back in high school and college, that Halloween came with an extravagance of celebration in the form of haunted houses, hay rides, and parties with dry ice and bad music. There were definitely years that found my friends and I ringing door bells in neighborhoods to which we'd been old enough to drive ourselves. I can only imagine the added thrill at Halloween falling not only on a Saturday, but also on the night before setting the clocks back. Ahhh, elation.

I have heard that celebrating the holidays with your own children is like rediscovering them, and in a way I guess that's true. It's been years since I was out roaming neighborhood streets after dark on Halloween. Last year Calvin had no real interest in ringing the doorbells of houses he didn't know, but this year he caught on quickly. It helped, I think, that we know at least twice as many people in the neighborhood this year, and Calvin himself has become more comfortable socially, so at most doors the answerer knew who he was and was genuinely pleased to see him. Bonus points for that tiny voice saying, with perfect clarity, "trick or treat," followed closely by "happy Halloween thank you," jumbled together as one phrase, all from within a rather large and fuzzy "Honey Pooh" costume.

The "Honey Pooh" costume, as Calvin calls it, was a rather sore point with me. Growing up I made all of my costumes, or at least all of the costumes I can remember; I've been a Dalmatian, a princess, an M&M, a baby doll, and even an Eeyore, all made with my own hands, and last year I made a scarecrow costume for Calvin. So when he asked to be a train engine for Halloween this year I figured it would be no problem. And it would have been, but, as you can clearly see, I did not make Calvin's costume this year. The problem wasn't the job itself, it was the last minute trip to the resale shop for engineer style overalls (to wear under the cardboard box engine I had planned) and the racks full of resale costumes, all marked down for sale before the fast approaching holiday, that caused the ultimate break. We weren't in the resale shop more than five minutes before he spied that Winnie the Pooh costume, too big for him by at least a full size, and the month long wishing for a train costume disappeared down the proverbial drain. I don't think I could have talked him back into the train if I had tried, but to be honest, the short time left to us coupled with the fifty percent mark down (on resale prices to boot, making it a whole $5) won me over before I tried. That, and it's a real costume, not one of those fake polyester things they're selling for $30 a pop these days, so it will last until he outgrows it, which is probably some time down the road yet (it's large size really added to the effect, I must say).

So Halloween is over. Trick-or-Treating was fun (another plus to the Pooh costume—I got to break out the Eeyore costume I made in college). We continued our celebration the next day by being awakened an hour too early, thanks to the resetting of the clocks (another bit of nostalgia—I remember when setting the clocks back was something we looked forward to, not something that meant having to reset your toddler as well). We have a deal with Calvin, which we started last year, that he can trade his candy in for a new toy. He asked for a roundhouse for his train. That's a pretty good deal, if you ask me. And he's still wearing his costume around the house, so that was a pretty good deal as well.

See lots more Halloween pictures in the October 2009, too album.