Trick or Treat!

I was reading a blog this morning where the author was reminiscing about past Halloweens and comparing them to more recent ones.  For her, Halloween used to be about going out, getting scared, and dressing up in not so family friendly costumes.   Now, “going out” is walking around the neighborhood in family friendly costumes and dialing-down the scary for the sake of her kids.  While she didn’t outright say it, she seemed a little sad about this progression.

I’m the total opposite.  When I was little, my parents went all out for holidays.  Each one was exciting, particularly Halloween.  We would trick-or-treat for what seemed like hours when I was little.  I remember having to tell my mom that we were tired and needed to go home, because if we didn’t tell her, she would keep going.  It was awesome.  I loved every single minute of it.

When I was in high school my enthusiasm for Halloween dwindled.  You are at weird age were you can’t trick-or-treat anymore (well, not without getting the “aren’t you too old for this” look) and you aren’t old enough to really go out yet.  In college, we always had a Halloween themed mixer of some sort, but it wasn’t the same.  In the years that followed I had my share of not so family friendly costumes, parties, and haunted houses, but it was never the same as when I was a kid.  Halloween became one of those holidays I knew was fun, but couldn’t really enjoy anymore.

My kids have brought Halloween back to life.  I enjoy it to the fullest and I’m not embarrassed about going overboard.  I struggle not to buy their costumes the minute they hit stores in August.  I then go to great lengths to find places to take my kids so they can wear their costumes multiple times.  The excitement I have about trick-or-treating is off the charts.  I prayed all day that the weather to hold out long enough so we could go trick-or-treating tonight, when in reality, my kids could have skip it altogether and never known the difference.  I want to make holidays for them as special as they were for me as a kid.

I would rather be trick-or-treating with my kids than at any party or haunted house.  I never want to forget these times.

The trick or treat posse.

Trying to keep up with the big kids.

What do you mean I can only have one kit-kat bar?

Check out all this candy!