Worst Halloween Ever
It started out really well.
A came home early to take L out in the neighborhood. It seemed odd that he didn’t see anyone out in costume as he walked home from the Tube station because it’s dark early here thanks to the end of DST last weekend. However, it was also 5 o’clock. Not prime trick or treating time.
I had dinner ready when he got home and L was fighting me to eat - which he needed to do before he ate a bunch of candy - so we decided we’d sit down together to eat and then check out the situation. In the meantime, we turned on all of our lights and made sure the curtains were open so that people could see we were all about the trickin’ and treatin’.
It was quiet for quite a while - as far as the visitors go - but L filled A in on his busy day (with me prodding him about every damn animal he saw) and as he was talking someone knocked at the door.
Aaron’s face lit up. He was all over it.
He rushed out to answer it and I saw him check to make sure the candy was by the door on his way. He opened the door a crack…but it never opened any farther.
It was a dude going door-to-door to sell his paintings. On HALLOWEEN. WTF?
A was disappointed - more like irritated - when he came back to the table. We finished eating and he went out to take a look.
NO ONE. Not one measly princess.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
We formulated Plan B almost immediately:
I (the Halloween Goblin) would hide candy and L would trick or treat Easter bunny stylee around the house.
As L began to look for his candy, there was another knock at the door. I didn’t hear it, but A was positive.
I went to answer and there wasn’t anyone there. He swore that he heard the knock, so I stepped out on to the sidewalkfootpath and nearly ran head-on into a young woman who was evidently looking for Ben.
Again, not the expectation. And again, disappointment.
BUT, L didn’t know the difference. We told him about the Halloween Goblin and just said they do it different in England.
And we had a great time.
Every single time he found something, he said, “Oh, look! I found some CANDY!”
He enjoyed eating it. You can see he has quite a spread (of the same kind of candy). I always loved to get home and dump out my bag on the floor to pick out the bad stuff. There’s nothing bad here.
The aftermath.
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And E? She went as Emalee.
But doesn’t she always….
She had a lot of fun watching L. She’s started chattering nonsense the last week or so and she provided color commentary for the event.
Anyway, we’re going to do some research and by next year we’ll have a better idea of where to go to ring the doorbells (or rattle the mailboxes).
In the meantime, we’re going to practice saying “trick or treat” and “thank you” each time we have candy. Saying it one time once a year just isn’t enough to keep him up to speed with the other three year olds. And we can’t have him relying on Gabe to work for the candy every year.
