Random Halloween Thoughts

Halloween!!!  Ahhh!!!!

Okay, so Halloween is an interesting holiday.  I LOVED it as a kid.  As an adult, I still think of it as a fun kid holiday.  It's not something I get into.  These days I enjoy seeing what my nieces and nephew dress up as, as I do candy duty for the neighborhood kids, getting annoyed by young 20 somethings who still think trick-or-treating is okay.  What is the age kids should stop trick-or-treating?  It's an individual decision.  I stopped when I turned 15, but still went around to take my brothers through the neighborhoods.

It seems as if more kids went trick-or-treating a decade ago than now.  There seems to be a decline.

A decade ago our neighborhood was the place to visit.  After Michael Jackson died nine years ago, one of our neighbors threw a huge Thriller tribute.  He hired dancers, costumes, makeup, effects, zombies came out of a storm drain, and there was a full on production right outside his garage every 10-15 minutes or so.  It was full blown impressively epic.  Crowds gathered, filling the entire street as word spread.  After the dance was done everyone dispersed, reminding me of the Halloween scene from E.T., just at night.  According to my brothers this neighbor and his family pulled off a cool haunted house the year before.  Somehow I missed it.  These neighbors have since moved.

When my family first moved here we actually avoided Halloween one night altogether and went to the movies.  I know, I know.  When we came out there was snow everywhere.  Our first snow of the season was on Halloween.  Welcome to Utah.  It hasn't snowed on Halloween in years.

I was talking with my sister-in-law Krista last night, and we wondered if the drop in kids trick-or-treating was due to increased trunk-or-treating.  Getting candy from car trunks will never replace going around neighborhoods.  When I was in the sixth or seventh grade I visited so many houses my trick-or-treat bag was completely full.  That was a good night. 

These days when I "dress up" for Halloween, I usually just put on my Gryffindor sweater and scarf.  Festive.  This year I just wore an Autumn sweater with a cute fox scarf.  (By the way, my baby niece was a fox for Halloween.  So cute.  My toddler niece was a ghost, and apparently earlier in the day when she was supposed to be taking a nap, she was standing up in her crib, blanket over head, saying "ooooh oooh ooh!"  Ha, super cute.)

Writing this is making me feel really lame.  Where's my sense of fun?  Dang.  Though I was thinking, if I'm fortunate enough to get married and have kids, it would be fun to dress up as Zelda, my unknown future husband as Link, and we'd dress our kids as chickens, carrying them around, no throwing allowed.  That would be hilarious.

My younger siblings did dress up.  Robbie and Lindsay we're dressed like the 1920's.  I should have asked if they were specifically dressed as anything.  Sibling fail.  My brother Steven was Captain America and his boyfriend Ty was Thor. 

Well, Halloween is now over.  Onto Thanksgiving.  When I was on candy duty last night I watched YouTube while waiting for knocks.  There was this video of Irish trying American Thanksgiving food that was pretty funny.  Though I don't really get into Halloween, I do enjoy Autumn.  I love the coziness of the season. The changing leaves.  An excuse to drink hot cocoa and eat pumpkin bread.  That's what I love.