Last Saturday night was Halloween. How perfect is that? Halloween on Saturday so the kids can stay up late and sleep in before church in the morning. November first is All Saint's Day, a day of Holy Obligation in the Catholic Church, so we always have to go to mass the day after Halloween anyway. This year was the perfect Halloween.
1. Saturday night
2. The end of daylight savings time, so we gained an hour when we went to bed.
3. Clear night, no wind, not too cold.
4. Full moon.
Josie and Zack both took off in costume with their buddies before it got dark. For the first time in 26 years, I thought I was going to be out trick or treating without any of my kids. Jay and I both headed over to McCollow's, where they not only have lots of little kids, but a bonfire and a huge pot of chili. MJ was there with Annie, who was dressed as a dinosaur. Meg and a passel of her friends were dressed as the Chipmunks. They disappeared early and I didn't see them again, but apparently Meg's night was made when a bunch of older boys stole their candy. Cheeky lads. Andy and Vi showed up with their kids. Hattie had the best costume; she was Hermione Granger in a Hogwart's uniform and robe. Gus was a clone warrior, Johnny was a skeleton and Charlie had on a Superman T-shirt but refused to call it a costume. Charlie doesn't do costumes. Also, Katie was there in the skeleton costume she had made for a party the night before, so I
did get to trick or treat with one of my kids.
So the kid is a 25 year old third year law student dressed in a home made skeleton costume, so what?
My Katie. Every other girl in the world uses Halloween as an excuse to go out in public mostly naked and she swathes herself from head to toe in black fleece. At least this year she didn't wear a skin head wig, like she did last year when she was Charlie Brown. I swear, if she said she was going to wear a bunny costume, don't look for a Playboy bunny, look for the
Pink Nightmare from A Christmas Story.
After many loops around neighboring blocks, many bowls of chili, way too much candy, the dregs of an old bottle of wine and a passionate discussion around the bonfire as to which is the better show, Mad Men or Friday Night Lights, MJ, Katie and I went over to MJ's house where she put Annie to bed and we played Lord of the Rings Monopoly and watched Young Frankenstein.
MJ and Katie play where if you land on the square with the ring on it, you have to sing a song about the square, to the tune of a Christmas Carol.
Katie won even though I had Mount Doom and Barad Dur (heavily fortified) and all four horses. MJ went out early in the game and Katie owned everything else. I hung on as long as I could but Katie didn't land on my property every turn around the board and she just owned way too much land for me to avoid it. That's the name of the game.
Plus, Katie only bought six fortresses which she kept moving all over the board, depending on where my token was. (I was Legolas, she was Galadriel.) SInce the fortresses cost different amounts on different property, she had to figure out how much she either owed the bank or the bank owed her every time she moved them, so the last hour of the game was basically me and MJ watching Katie do math. Singing about the Ford of Bruinen was a welcome relief.
Josie was in the dog house with Meg. Meg couldn't believe that Josie would ignore a 14 year tradition to go off and trick or treat with her new high school friends
on the other side of the lake. The truth is, Josie always did her best T&T by herself. That girl was the best power trick or treater I've ever known. She did bring home enough candy to fill the large tupperware bowl, but last year she filled two and a half.
It's definitely the end of an era.
Apparently after many hours of partying in San Antonio, Tyler called everyone in the family to scream "Trick or Treat! I Rock!"
It's good to know some things stay the same.
