Happy Halloween

The trick-or-treaters started this evening around 6:15.... it's a warm and beautiful night, so there was a steady stream of kids (and parents) walking around the cul-de-sac. As I type, it's 8:30, and the curfew has begun... all kids are supposed to be heading towards home now, and by 9:00 there shouldn't be any more door-bell ringing. Usually, the last kids who come by are older boys, looking to get what's left of the candy. So far tonight, that hasn't happened. Maybe the older boys who always used to do that are now too old to be trick-or-treating.

There have been more boys tonight than girls.... and I know that because I have two boxes on the foyer table by the front door. One is marked boys, the other is marked girls. In each box are little toys/trinkets that would appeal to either boys or girls..... and the boys' box is nearly empty tonight. I had bought Halloween coloring books after last year's Halloween and put them away for this year..... I give those out to the little kids who look like they still enjoy coloring books and crayons. Just as I thought, the coloring books were a hit tonight. I also had Halloween pencils, for both the boys and the girls, and they just loved those as well. I had found a whole box of those (brand new) at a yard sale, and I knew they'd come in handy for Halloween.

I mean, really, how much candy can kids eat? And the parents tonight who saw the pencils and the coloring books and the little toys yelled out "Thank you!" as their kids showed them what they got. I had also bought some small boxes of animal crackers, for the really little kids... the ones that don't know what Halloween is really all about, but the parents dress them up in a costume and take them to just a few houses so they can take pictures for the grandparents. Those kids got the animal crackers, instead of chocolate, and the parents really appreciated that, so I'll do the same thing next year.

Just about every kid who came to the door tonight said "Happy Halloween!" as they ran down the walkway. Every single kid said "Trick or Treat!" and every kid also said "Thank you!" Last year, there were so many kids who just stood on the front porch after they rang the bell and they didn't say "Trick or Treat!"--- not that that's such a rigid rule, but it's just nice to hear their little voices saying it.

While I was waiting for the doorbell to ring tonight, I was de-Halloween-ing the inside of the house. All of the Halloween decorations from the party are now put away, safely up into the cabinets in the laundry room. Tomorrow, I will take down the outside decorations. Then the fun begins.... out will come the Thanksgiving and Christmas boxes.... one box at a time, a little bit each day. In two or three-weeks time, the house will be all Christmas-ed up. I won't decorate the outside of the house till after Thanksgiving, though, so my neighbors won't think I have lost my mind.

I also started to wrap Christmas gifts today. We had bought a bunch of Christmas books for my husband's great-niece and great-nephew, so those are all wrapped up and ready for mailing. I took out the shopping bag that I've been filling up for my sister, and those gifts are all sorted out now and ready to be wrapped. Some things were too summery for Christmas gifts, so I put those back in the shopping bag and I'll save them for her birthday.

I'm way behind my usual schedule, but it will all get done. Right now, we're concentrating on Thanksgiving.... deciding if we should invite more friends to join us and young C and her parents. One holiday at a time, one day at a time.

My cousin never got back to me about her visit here in November, so I'm guessing that she's not coming down as she had planned. Her original thought was to be here over the Election Day and Veteran's Day holidays, but I guess she couldn't arrange that. I'll call her this weekend, but I would think that if she was indeed going to be here then, she would've already called to give me the flight information. She had also planned to go dancing with our friend J when she came down this time, but J will be away on a cruise next week, so she wouldn't have been able to go dancing anyway. Both my cousin and our friend J are excellent dancers.... both have given dance lessons, taken dance lessons, and they can dance rings around mostly everyone else on a dance floor. It would've been greaet to see them dancing together. Oh well.... maybe it will work out next time.

The doorbell hasn't rung now since I sat down to type. It's now nine o'clock.... the curfew has started and Halloween trick-or-treating is officially over. Gracie and the cats are probably very happy about that.... I've had Gracie in the laundry room all evening, and the cats have all been out on the screen-porch. It was safer that way.... I didn't have to worry about Gracie barking by the front door, and I didn't have to worry that one of the cats would get out of the front door.

Young C and her mom stopped over here tonight, so C could borrow a tube of silver glitter and some glue for one of her school projects. As they were going out the door, C saw the Halloween pencils in the girls' box by the front door. She asked me if she could have the pencil with the yellow puppy eraser, and of course I said she could. C's mom asked her: "Aren't you getting a little too old for those?" Before I caught myself, I said You're never too old to have fun!..... C's mom thought about that for a moment and said "I guess you're right."

It takes so very little to make young C smile..... sometimes I wish her mom would remember that.