Halloween-cool

So, apparently, Halloween is back. Or maybe it’s always been here, but it’s just now become cool again. Or then again, maybe it’s always been cool, but I’m just now living in a neighborhood that makes Halloween fun again!

For a month now, our neighborhood has been decked out in Halloween décor… and I mean DECKED OUT. I wrinkled my nose at the first house that had spider webs draped across the windows, but by two weeks before Halloween, I was ready to put tombstones in my yard and hang friendly ghosts from the trees just to fit in! My street has a lot of young couples who either have no kids, or toddlers, so it was cute to see Hill dressed as a spider, and Wilson who was the cutest little Octopus ever. But the REAL fun was one street over. That street has a lot of families about 5-10 years older than we are. A lot of them have early elementary school kids who are in Halloween PRIME! These are the kids who have been waiting for two months to go around as Hannah Montana, or a High School Musical Cheerleader, or a Ninja and collect more candy than the entire Hershey plant! There were literally hundreds of people out and about last night!

My friend Andrea came over with her little boy Caleb, and she and I trick-or-treated with him for an hour or so before I camped out with Justin on our front porch to pass out candy. Justin didn’t want us to be known as the house that gives out crappy candy, so he bought all name-brand candy. Nothing but the best! ;-) I dressed up as a cowgirl so I could have an excuse to wear my cowboy boots and cowgirl hat again! By the way, if you would like some candy, you're welcome to stop by and pick some up. Our bowl of candy was like the five loaves and two fish, so we have plenty of leftovers! What is it with parents not letting their kids take more than one piece?!

Backtracking just a bit... Sunday afternoon, our neighborhood had a Halloween parade. Kids from all over the community met on our street and paraded in costume into Ross Park! In the park, there were refreshments for the little skeletons, bugs, animals, and princesses. A few spectators looked on, while most of the parents rushed around taking pictures!

Sunday night was our church’s annual Trunk-or-Treat. Although none of us have children yet, our small group of young married couples decorated a truck in hot pursuit of the grand prize. We never really knew what we were trying to win, but we wanted it really bad! We built a wooden frame and hung blue painted butcher paper to resemble water. The “water” was decorated with fish of all shapes and sizes. Each kid cast the fishing pole over the top, and we clipped candy onto the line and threw it back over. We didn’t win the award, but we are all convinced that if the kids were allowed to vote, we would have won in a landslide. Next year we're lobbying for a People's Choice Award.

Justin and I really enjoyed the Halloween season, and are embracing Fall with open arms. Bring on the changing of the leaves!!!