Halloween (I know...)

I have a problem with Trunk-or-Treats.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is a little party we have at church around Halloween.  We started with a chili cook-off and some cornbread.  So far, so good.  I even won third place for the chili, though I'm not overly proud of that because I liked most of the others much better than mine and was feeling a bit guilty about my less-than-overboard efforts.  But, I was feeling smart about one aspect of the dinner.  I brought a cupcake tin to eat out of.  This way, Nick and I were able to sample 12 different entries.  Everyone else ate in bowls.  I guess I should have mentioned this trick to them earlier.

But I digress.  My problem with truck-or-treat comes after dinner.  The kids all go outside in their costumes, where the adults (myself included) decorate our open car trunks and pass out candy.  This came in handy last year, when Halloween fell on a Sunday.  We don't really consider door-to-door candy begging to be quite Sabbath appropriate, so a little trunk-or-treat party the night before meant that my kids didn't have to miss out on the occasion entirely.  This year, though, Halloween was on a Saturday.  I do not know why anyone would feel compelled to host a trunk-or-treat the night before, but I suppose that as I felt compelled to go (family pressure may be worse that peer pressure) and to host a trunk, I am not any better.  My feeling is that one night of candy being freely dumped into a child's possession is enough for any year and any child.  We finished the weekend with way too much candy.

Costumes are tons of fun, though, and this was an extra opportunity to don them.  Here is Rigby, as a knight in shining armor.

Bethelle wanted to be Jessie from Toy Story.  I made those chaps m'self!

And Curie picked out a Thomas costume.

We brought along some neighbor-friends to share in the indulgences of the evening.

 Here are the troops on the actual night of revelries.  Curie was much more excited by this time, as she had figured out the wear-this-get-candy process the night before.

 Playing the part...

 One more chance to check out those chaps!

A good night for all.  Even for me.  I stayed home, sitting just a couple feet from the door, and handed out candy to the knockers.  My costume consisted of adding a witch hat to my usual attire.  Standing up took a lot of effort at the time, so the hat was me really going the extra mile.  Nick tells me that Rigby and Curie burned out from the exertion about 30 minutes into their ritualistic, candy-collecting walk, but as Bethelle would not be stopped, Nick spent the rest of the evening carrying two kids and two increasingly heavy buckets from door to door.